Football Manager - Your Career

[JaseTheVillain]

I haven't played for about a month due to the death of my laptop... The missus' laptop is being temperamental and won't play fm no matter what I do, tells me there's an unknown error, tried everything, reinstalled fm, steam, verified game cache, deleted appdata, etc etc etc. I give up to be honest.

 

[Madejski]

Finished my fourth season the other day with Reading. Far exceeded my expectations. Was hoping to scrape the final Europa League position if I could, but knew it would be difficult due to losing two of my best players to Man City in the Summer.

Ended up finishing 5th in the league (though I was 2nd with 5 games to go but blew it!), lost 4-3 aggregate in the CoC Semis, 7-2 aggregate in the EL 2nd knockout round and went out in the fifth round of the FA Cup. My sole focus really was on the league and CoC this season, easiest ways to qualify for Europe.

Also picked up an insanely good Russian regen from CSKA in the January transfer window of this season. £12.5m for an 18 year old who my scouts already rate as World Class. I imagine within a year or two his stats will far surpass his centreback partner Balanta. Already averaging 7.5+ for me as an 18 year old. Shame that I won't get far enough into the game to really watch him develop in later age too. I'll try and get a screenshot soon and add it to this post.

 

[Alty]

Linfield 2017/18.

Tough draw in the Champions League 2nd Qualifying Round in the shape of Cypriot champions, APOEL. We put in a brilliant performance in the first leg to win 2-0. In the away leg we were well and truly under the cosh. We were losing 2-0 after 90 minutes, so it went to extra time. APOEL scored what looked like the winner in the 116th minute. I chucked on my last sub and went all out attack in a desperate attempt to rescue the tie, which actually worked! Substitute Daniel Hughes tucked in a priceless away goal in the 117th minute and we held on to go through

We then got an impossible draw in the 3rd Qualifying Round in the shape of Celtic. We actually played okay at Parkhead but conceded two late goals to lose 4-0. A good effort back at Windsor saw us lose 3-2 having been in the lead early in the first half. So a 7-2 aggregate defeat. No disgrace in that.

We then dropped into the Europa League Playoff where, for the second time in three years, we were drawn against Spurs. This time we lost 6-1 at White Hart Lane and 1-0 at home, so 7-1 on aggregate. Not much change from the last time we played when we lost 9-2 on aggregate.

Domestically we won the league with three games to spare, as well as the County Antrim Shield and League Cup. We got knocked out in the semis of both the Irish Cup and All-Ireland Cup.

Some of the players I bought last summer have really improved and I'm hoping will continue to do so. Still not sure they're of a standard to help us go a round further in Europe, but we'll see.

At the end of the season we had over £1.5m in the bank, mainly thanks to having progressed through a round in Europe. I asked the board to turn us full-time, but they weren't having it. They don't think I've proved myself yet (4 straight league titles, a load of cups, and progress in Europe in 3 out of 4 seasons??). That said, they did agree to invest in our training and youth facilities, both of which are currently poor. That's costing £700,000, but considering I can't attract any expensive players anyway, I might as well use the excess cash for something.

One landmark signing agreed as the season ended - a very solid central midfielder from Cliftonville. I think I've been a bit overcharged at £160,000, but he'll improve us and we have the money. No-brainer.

Onwards.

Linfield 2018/19.

Champions League 2nd Qualifying Round saw us up against BATE Borisov. Away leg first. A very tough draw. We were 1-0 down at H/T in the first leg, but after they had a man sent off early in the second, we capitalised and grabbed a 2-1 away win. This was followed up by a tense game at Windsor. We were 2-1 down on the night heading into the latter stages, but grabbed a crucial goal in the 78th minute to send us through.

We were then drawn against Maribor in the 3rd Qualifying Round. Another tough tie but I thought there was a glimmer of hope we might do the business. A cagey first leg at Windsor ended 0-0, leaving it all to play for in Slovenia. They took the lead, but we equalised and looked like we might hang on for an away goals victory. Alas, they scored two late goals to win 3-1, sending us into the Europa League Playoff Round.

As ever we got an impossible task in the Europa League game. Forest hammered us 4-1 in the first leg at Windsor and then 3-0 at their place. Still - another year of progressing a round in Europe and continued (albeit gradual) improvement of our coefficient.

Domestically we won everything other than the League Cup. Added a couple more young players to the squad. And got the board to agree to further investment in training facilities. They still don't want to turn us full-time. I don't think they'll ever agree to that until we make a European competition proper. Just have to keep plugging away.

 

[Alty]

Linfield 2018/19.

Champions League 2nd Qualifying Round saw us up against BATE Borisov. Away leg first. A very tough draw. We were 1-0 down at H/T in the first leg, but after they had a man sent off early in the second, we capitalised and grabbed a 2-1 away win. This was followed up by a tense game at Windsor. We were 2-1 down on the night heading into the latter stages, but grabbed a crucial goal in the 78th minute to send us through.

We were then drawn against Maribor in the 3rd Qualifying Round. Another tough tie but I thought there was a glimmer of hope we might do the business. A cagey first leg at Windsor ended 0-0, leaving it all to play for in Slovenia. They took the lead, but we equalised and looked like we might hang on for an away goals victory. Alas, they scored two late goals to win 3-1, sending us into the Europa League Playoff Round.

As ever we got an impossible task in the Europa League game. Forest hammered us 4-1 in the first leg at Windsor and then 3-0 at their place. Still - another year of progressing a round in Europe and continued (albeit gradual) improvement of our coefficient.

Domestically we won everything other than the League Cup. Added a couple more young players to the squad. And got the board to agree to further investment in training facilities. They still don't want to turn us full-time. I don't think they'll ever agree to that until we make a European competition proper. Just have to keep plugging away.

Linfield 2019/20.

Champions League 2nd Qualifying Round saw us drawn against HJK Helsinki. Theoretically they're favourites but my young players have been improving steadily for a couple of years and we now have a strong record of getting through this stage. The lads put on two great performances to win 1-0 in Finland and 3-1 at home.

The 3rd Qualifying Round pits us against Steaua Bucharest. We make a strong start in the first leg, taking the lead, but ultimately go down 2-1. In the away leg out in Romania we create some decent chances, but can't convert. We lose 1-0 on the night, 3-1 on aggregate. A decent effort.

In the Europa League Playoff we draw Chelsea...oh dear. They smash us 5-0 in both legs, 10-0 on aggregate. I'm treating it as a learning experience for my boys.

Domestically we won everything except the All-Ireland Cup. My players dominate the NI U-21 and U-19 squads and one of my centre halves regularly gets called up to the senior squad.

The board once again reject the option of going full-time, although they now cite finances rather than my need to prove myself, which is at least encouraging. If I can just make that European breakthrough I think they'll be up for it and this whole game will really take off.

The board did approve investment in youth facilities, which is good. Onwards.

 

[Alty]

Linfield 2019/20.

Champions League 2nd Qualifying Round saw us drawn against HJK Helsinki. Theoretically they're favourites but my young players have been improving steadily for a couple of years and we now have a strong record of getting through this stage. The lads put on two great performances to win 1-0 in Finland and 3-1 at home.

The 3rd Qualifying Round pits us against Steaua Bucharest. We make a strong start in the first leg, taking the lead, but ultimately go down 2-1. In the away leg out in Romania we create some decent chances, but can't convert. We lose 1-0 on the night, 3-1 on aggregate. A decent effort.

In the Europa League Playoff we draw Chelsea...oh dear. They smash us 5-0 in both legs, 10-0 on aggregate. I'm treating it as a learning experience for my boys.

Domestically we won everything except the All-Ireland Cup. My players dominate the NI U-21 and U-19 squads and one of my centre halves regularly gets called up to the senior squad.

The board once again reject the option of going full-time, although they now cite finances rather than my need to prove myself, which is at least encouraging. If I can just make that European breakthrough I think they'll be up for it and this whole game will really take off.

The board did approve investment in youth facilities, which is good. Onwards.

Linfield 2020/21.

BREAKTHROUGH.

Looks like all the plugging away may have been worth it after all!

Champions League 2nd Qualifying Round. We got a relatively favourable draw in the form of Aktobe of Kazakhstan. We beat them 3-1 at home and followed it up with a strong performance at their place, winning 3-2 on the night for a 6-3 aggregate victory.

For the second year running we got Steaua Bucharest in the 3rd Qualifying Round. Again, they were that little bit too strong. We lost 1-0 at home and 2-0 away. By no means outclassed, but we just didn't quite have enough. So, for the 4th consecutive season we drop into the Europa League Playoff unseeded and expecting an impossible draw.

We draw FC Twente. Not quite as awful as the endless stream of draws against English clubs that we'd had in previous seasons, but we were still expecting two very difficult nights. However, in the first fixture out in the Netherlands we stuck at our task really well using a deep-lying counter attacking style. We kept the score to just a 1-0 defeat, thereby keeping the tie alive. In the return leg, Twente totally lost their discipline. They had a man sent off and gave away three penalties, all converted, as we took the game 3-1 on the night and 3-2 on aggregate. That gave us a space in European competition proper Just under £1m in prize money right away, much needed.

In the Europa League we were in a group with Basel, Viktoria Plzen and Plovdiv. We managed to pick up 2 points courtesy of home draws with Plzen and Plovdiv (each of which netted us around £75k). The worst thrashing we got was by three goals against Basel, so it was a very respectable campaign.

Domestically we won everything except the League Cup.

At the end of the season, with a balance of over £2.5m, the board agreed to turn us full-time The scouting network has been expanded to the entire British Isles and already there are far more players interested in joining us. Add in the boost to the European coefficient and I think the future looks bright!

 

[Techno Natch]

Nice good work.

 

[Luke Imp]

I'm not sure what's more impressive. Getting through 3 seasons in a day or 2 in 8 minutes!

 

[Alty]

It was a lapse in submitting my season synopsis, not the world's quickest laptop!

 

[Gulliball]

Great updates Alty. I can relate with you being a domestic giant but European minnow. You've just hit two absolutely massive landmarks at the same time, so your glass ceiling has been shattered. Regular European money is the only way to fund progress at a smaller club - to boost the facilities, attract better players and sell players for a profit.

Good luck for the future.

 

[smat]

Good luck for the future.

Fucking hell, you're not firing him.

 

[JaseTheVillain]

I've got fm back working, fucking avg screwed it of all bloody things...

Continued my journeyman career which so far has seen me spend a month at two clubs (HSV and Derby), win the Europa League for Watford, return Leeds to the bigtime, they then gave me a shit budget which was never going to keep them up, so I resigned, two months later, the previous season's FA Cup finalists and Championship champions came knocking in Watford (thus the europa league trophy) HSV came calling aftdr that, I had a nose around, but the club needed serious overhaul, and in a journeyman career, I couldn't be arsed, so I quit. I've just taken over struggling Swansea, after finishing 5th last season, they are sat 19th as I take over, and no fucking wonder, their first team squad consists of 16 players, including 3 goalkeepers. Luckily it's January and I've been given £22milion to spend. Should have them sorted soon enough, only problem is, I'm used to working with a massive squad..

 

[yellow]

i have gone from wrexham (2014) to barcelona (2029).

i think i win smat

 

[Alty]

i have gone from wrexham (2014) to barcelona (2029).

i think i win smat

You've done well but demanding Smat as your prize is bang out of order.

 

[yellow]

touchè

 

[JaseTheVillain]

Saved Swansea, kept them up in 17th with their horrendous squad, also took them to the Europa League QF with my weakest team, eventually crashing out to fucking Celtic, lost 4-1 at home after a 2-0 win away. Team was shit. Get to the start of the next season, and my transfer budget to sort this shit out is...... £2million. I resigned.

 

[Alty]

Linfield 2020/21.

BREAKTHROUGH.

Looks like all the plugging away may have been worth it after all!

Champions League 2nd Qualifying Round. We got a relatively favourable draw in the form of Aktobe of Kazakhstan. We beat them 3-1 at home and followed it up with a strong performance at their place, winning 3-2 on the night for a 6-3 aggregate victory.

For the second year running we got Steaua Bucharest in the 3rd Qualifying Round. Again, they were that little bit too strong. We lost 1-0 at home and 2-0 away. By no means outclassed, but we just didn't quite have enough. So, for the 4th consecutive season we drop into the Europa League Playoff unseeded and expecting an impossible draw.

We draw FC Twente. Not quite as awful as the endless stream of draws against English clubs that we'd had in previous seasons, but we were still expecting two very difficult nights. However, in the first fixture out in the Netherlands we stuck at our task really well using a deep-lying counter attacking style. We kept the score to just a 1-0 defeat, thereby keeping the tie alive. In the return leg, Twente totally lost their discipline. They had a man sent off and gave away three penalties, all converted, as we took the game 3-1 on the night and 3-2 on aggregate. That gave us a space in European competition proper Just under £1m in prize money right away, much needed.

In the Europa League we were in a group with Basel, Viktoria Plzen and Plovdiv. We managed to pick up 2 points courtesy of home draws with Plzen and Plovdiv (each of which netted us around £75k). The worst thrashing we got was by three goals against Basel, so it was a very respectable campaign.

Domestically we won everything except the League Cup.

At the end of the season, with a balance of over £2.5m, the board agreed to turn us full-time The scouting network has been expanded to the entire British Isles and already there are far more players interested in joining us. Add in the boost to the European coefficient and I think the future looks bright!

Linfield 2021/22.

Having just gone full-time we recruited more coaches, more scouts and more players. The board obviously got very excited because they soon decided we could scout throughout all of Europe rather than just the UK and Ireland. We started bringing players in as we were playing in the European Qualifying Rounds and continued in January and at the end of the season. Obviously it takes a little while for everyone to gel but we're gradually building a much better squad.

We drew FH of Iceland (a team with whom I had good times in a previous FM life) in the Champions League 2nd Qualifying Round. We looked rusty in the away leg as we drew 0-0. But we got into gear in the second leg as we hammered them 6-1. We were then pitted against Maccabi Haifa of Israel in the 3rd Qualifying Round. A crazy home leg ended in a 5-4 defeat. We then lost the away leg 2-1. It was a good effort overall, but we couldn't quite pull it off.

So we dropped into the Europa League Playoff. No repeat of last season's heroics, unfortunately. Stuttgart. 5-1 defeat at home, 2-0 defeat away.

Domestically we won the League, the League Cup and the Irish Cup.

Excitingly, we're heading into the new season with some very handy players. Liam Boyce, a 31 year-old striker with a handful of NI caps and a very respectable goal-scoring record in the SPL with Ross County. Gustavo Pena is a very exciting and pacey young forward who we picked up from Real Madrid 'C'. Neil King is a solid young midfielder from St Mirren who looks to have plenty of potential. Marcel Dyer is a good young utility player who we picked up following his release from QPR. And we have more coming in this summer. The future looks bright.

Owing to other Northern Irish clubs having been fucking abysmal, I believe we enter the CL at the First Qualifying Round next season. Arguably this is a pain in the arse, but then again, it does offer the opportunity to pick up some more points for the coefficient. It won't last much longer as our journey to the Europa League proper last season single handedly boosted the Northern Irish coefficient significantly.

Let see what this much revamped squad can achieve next season...

 

[JaseTheVillain]

Took over Fulham on 31st December, because their manager fucked off somewhere. Sat in mid table, decent enough squad and £10million to spend. Signed a couple of players, and I'm currently sat in 8th at the end of January. Looking at the table and the tems in the leage, it's weak at hell right now, so Europe really isn't out of the question. My old team Watford are sat 3rd ffs! As for Swansea, sat in 17th only out of the relegation zone on GD. Fuckers.

 

[Luke Imp]

I've just started bobbing along on my Liverpool save again and it'll probably stay like that until FM16 comes out.

 

[Luke Imp]

Think Terry's legs have gone (just scored against me, mind).

 

[Alty]

When John Terry's pace drops to the level of his corner taking I think it's time for him to call it a day!

Double Linfield update coming up soon...

 

[GodsGift]

A flair rating of 6 is fairly generous.

 

[sam95]

Currently in November 2023.
I spent the 2014-15 season at Shrewsbury, couldn't get them promoted to league one, had an argument with the board and got fired.
I then joined Hereford in the VCN, got promoted in my first season and then in every other season, so I'm now in my second year in the championship, with the board expecting me to get promoted (lost the play offs final last season). Currently third and 3 points off second & automatic promotion.
Also through to the capital one cup quarter finals, up against a very beatable Swansea.

All of this with a club in a not very good financial situation until the end of last season, and a pitiful transfer budget.

 

[Paddy]

With my EIREpro project (http://eirepro.atspace.eu/) on a hiatus (due to the fact I felt like actually playing FM instead of doing a project on it) I decided the best thing for me to do to get back in to the playing side of things would be to do a 'defuge challenge' with the one & only mighty Kingstonian FC.

I've recycled my old wordpress account for the purpose of doing seasonal updates on my game. Still playing on FM14, the idea of the dafuge challenge is to holiday one season & take control of one of the teams promoted up in to the Conference North or South with the aim of taking them on to glory, so the game technically starts in the 2014/15 season.

I've done 2 seasons so far, narrowly avoiding relegation the first time round in 2014/15 in dire financial situations & surpassing my wildest of dreams in 2015/16 by somehow coming 11th with a smaller wage budget & even worse financial deficit the the previous season. Reached the 4th & final qualification round of the FA Cup both times.

 

[hodge]

Anyone find they get a lot of disallowed goals? Doing a save with Bristol City with an update for new season etc, but I'm getting a load of disallowed goals and its really annoying.

 

[daviejones]

Anyone find they get a lot of disallowed goals? Doing a save with Bristol City with an update for new season etc, but I'm getting a load of disallowed goals and its really annoying.

If a striker has the 'tries to beat the offside trap' trait then they get caught offside stupidly often. Luciano Vietto is a prime example of this, probably scored twice as many offside goals for me in his opening season as legitimate ones.

 

[hodge]

Went from being 2nd bottom and drifting by about 10 points half way through the season to being 2 points clear of the drop zone with 6 games left, have to play both Forest and Bolton who are just below me. Kodjia with 12 goals now, think he only had about 4 before he went on this run. Settled on a 451/433 with wingers slightly advanced.

 

[hodge]

Survived by 2 points in the end, form stuttered again but got over the line.

Summer transfers so far:

Joe Garner - £1.6m
Joe Mason - £750,000
Dean Moxey - £400,000 with another £400,000 due over a couple of seasons
Extended Sean Murray's loan deal for another season
Alex Pearce - £400,000 as he wanted out of Derby

Need to add a back up goalkeeper, maybe a right winger as well.

 

[hodge]

24 games in and I'm in 10th place, Garner is on about 14 goals.

Sam Gallagher has also joined on loan as well. Forgot to mention in the above post I got Tom Carroll on loan somehow for the season and Jakub Haugaard as a back up keeper.

 

[Alty]

Linfield 2021/22.

Having just gone full-time we recruited more coaches, more scouts and more players. The board obviously got very excited because they soon decided we could scout throughout all of Europe rather than just the UK and Ireland. We started bringing players in as we were playing in the European Qualifying Rounds and continued in January and at the end of the season. Obviously it takes a little while for everyone to gel but we're gradually building a much better squad.

We drew FH of Iceland (a team with whom I had good times in a previous FM life) in the Champions League 2nd Qualifying Round. We looked rusty in the away leg as we drew 0-0. But we got into gear in the second leg as we hammered them 6-1. We were then pitted against Maccabi Haifa of Israel in the 3rd Qualifying Round. A crazy home leg ended in a 5-4 defeat. We then lost the away leg 2-1. It was a good effort overall, but we couldn't quite pull it off.

So we dropped into the Europa League Playoff. No repeat of last season's heroics, unfortunately. Stuttgart. 5-1 defeat at home, 2-0 defeat away.

Domestically we won the League, the League Cup and the Irish Cup.

Excitingly, we're heading into the new season with some very handy players. Liam Boyce, a 31 year-old striker with a handful of NI caps and a very respectable goal-scoring record in the SPL with Ross County. Gustavo Pena is a very exciting and pacey young forward who we picked up from Real Madrid 'C'. Neil King is a solid young midfielder from St Mirren who looks to have plenty of potential. Marcel Dyer is a good young utility player who we picked up following his release from QPR. And we have more coming in this summer. The future looks bright.

Owing to other Northern Irish clubs having been fucking abysmal, I believe we enter the CL at the First Qualifying Round next season. Arguably this is a pain in the arse, but then again, it does offer the opportunity to pick up some more points for the coefficient. It won't last much longer as our journey to the Europa League proper last season single handedly boosted the Northern Irish coefficient significantly.

Let see what this much revamped squad can achieve next season...

Linfield 2022/23.

So I was mistaken about having to go into the CL First Qualifying Round. Obviously got myself confused there. As with previous years we entered at the 2nd Round, only now we go in as seeds.

The season didn't start brilliantly when my best player, Gustavo Pena, ruptured his cruciate ligament, ruling him out for the season. But what can you do?

In the CL 2nd Qualifying Round we were drawn against Differdange of Luxembourg. We beat them 1-0 away and 7-0 at home. This meant we went into the 3rd Qualifying Round full of confidence. We were drawn against Maribor who we'd played before and who'd been too strong for us. An end-to-end game out in Slovenia ended 3-2 to them after they scored a winner in the 94 minute. Conceding so late was very disapointing but I felt we may well have enough to turn it around at Windsor. But despite dominating the game and having been two goals up on a couple of occasions, we could only win the home tie 4-3, thus heading out on away goals. So, so close to finally making the CL Playoff Round, but not quite!

So down we went to the Europa League Playoff. We got a tough draw against Bordeaux, but my players' confidence was high after a creditable performance against Maribor. We were under the cosh for long periods in the away leg, but we nicked a goal from a set piece courtesy of Luis Manuel, on loan from Atletico Madrid, escaping with a 1-1 draw. We then gave it a really good go in the home leg. Despite falling behind, we brought it back to 1-1 with ten minutes to go and the game was on a knife-edge. Sadly, Bordeaux scored a second in the 90th minute. We did bravely fight on and get an equaliser on the night in injury time, but it wasn't enough to stop us exiting on away goals.

So two away goals defeats. We played well in the games and it was a bit deflating. Especially as I felt Pena might have made the difference for us. But hey. No use crying over spilled milk.

Domestically we won the League (by a country mile), League Cup and All-Ireland Cup.

We also increased further the number of coaches and scouts we have. Finances remained stronged.

 

[Alty]

Linfield 2022/23.

So I was mistaken about having to go into the CL First Qualifying Round. Obviously got myself confused there. As with previous years we entered at the 2nd Round, only now we go in as seeds.

The season didn't start brilliantly when my best player, Gustavo Pena, ruptured his cruciate ligament, ruling him out for the season. But what can you do?

In the CL 2nd Qualifying Round we were drawn against Differdange of Luxembourg. We beat them 1-0 away and 7-0 at home. This meant we went into the 3rd Qualifying Round full of confidence. We were drawn against Maribor who we'd played before and who'd been too strong for us. An end-to-end game out in Slovenia ended 3-2 to them after they scored a winner in the 94 minute. Conceding so late was very disapointing but I felt we may well have enough to turn it around at Windsor. But despite dominating the game and having been two goals up on a couple of occasions, we could only win the home tie 4-3, thus heading out on away goals. So, so close to finally making the CL Playoff Round, but not quite!

So down we went to the Europa League Playoff. We got a tough draw against Bordeaux, but my players' confidence was high after a creditable performance against Maribor. We were under the cosh for long periods in the away leg, but we nicked a goal from a set piece courtesy of Luis Manuel, on loan from Atletico Madrid, escaping with a 1-1 draw. We then gave it a really good go in the home leg. Despite falling behind, we brought it back to 1-1 with ten minutes to go and the game was on a knife-edge. Sadly, Bordeaux scored a second in the 90th minute. We did bravely fight on and get an equaliser on the night in injury time, but it wasn't enough to stop us exiting on away goals.

So two away goals defeats. We played well in the games and it was a bit deflating. Especially as I felt Pena might have made the difference for us. But hey. No use crying over spilled milk.

Domestically we won the League (by a country mile), League Cup and All-Ireland Cup.

We also increased further the number of coaches and scouts we have. Finances remained stronged.

Linfield 2023/24.

An all-Irish clash in the CL 2nd Qualifying Round this year as we're drawn against Limerick at this stage. We demolish them courtesy of a 3-1 home win and 5-1 away win. Mark Hughes, my tricky Northern Irish International striker and Pedro Rial, a pacy left-winger signed from Atletico Madrid for £250k, are the players to do the damage.

Very, very difficult draw in the next round. Olympiakos. We set ourselves up to play on the counter-attack in Greece...and it works perfectly. They completely dominate the play but we hit them on the break 3 times in a 3-2 away win. They had 28 shots to our 6. I knew it was going to be very difficult to repeat the feat in Belfast, but we'd given ourselves a chance. A terrible start in Belfast saw the visitors go 2-0 up on the night, but we fought back to 2-2 by H/T. However, Olympiakos scored again early in the second half. That left it dead level on aggregate as we headed towards the end of the game. And then they broke our hearts with a 90th minute winner. Out we go, 6-5 on aggregate.

At this point I'm becoming concerned about glorious defeats as we really need to capitalise on the progress we've made by getting back into European competition. The Europa League Playoff sees us take on Feyenoord. As ever, it's a tough draw. But there is at least an outside chance. It's the home leg first. It's a slightly cagey affair all round and an even game ends 0-0. I was reasonably happy with that. No away goal conceded meant we had a chance of nicking something in Rotterdam. We twice take the lead in the away leg, but are pegged back each time. We start coming under sustained pressure in the second half and I fear we're going to concede, but we manage to hit them on the break with a lovely counter-attack. Anthony Sulley, a young striker on loan from Chelsea, grabs the goal to see us win 3-2 on the night and head into the Europa League again

It's a much tougher draw than last time we made the group stage as we're pitted against Sevilla, Lazio and FC Kobenhaven. However, the boys don't disgrace themselves. We got a 3-3 draw out in Denmark and also drew 1-1 at home to Sevilla as we collected a couple of points from our campaign. Worst hammering we got was 5-1 away at Lazio when we actually played okay in patches.

Domestically we won the League, the County Antrim Shield and the All-Ireland Cup.

As the season ends, some bigger clubs are sniffing around my players. Will have to try to keep them at bay as we aim for another season in Europe.