Aberdeen Save 2019/20

[Mr_Grieves]

Scottish Cup Final 2028

Aberdeen 2-2 Celtic
Aberdeen win 4-2 on penalties

We win the Scottish Cup for a record 5th time in a row in what was our toughest match over the past 5 years in the cup. Celtic had their chances in an even game if you look away from the stats where we battered them.. Our third treble in 5 seasons to cement our status as the team of the 20s​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

Season 9 Review

The dream of every FM player. There own stadium. Now i just need an unborn son to become a player and in my eyes, we'll have completed the save. Once we become the no1 team in the world for ranking and finance.


Aberdeen Squad

​

I could never settle on a no1. Out of the 3 value keepers i have in the squad right now Bertini and Wallace would be the best. Bertini may get another chance next year. Wallace will always be my no2 at worst. Coelho will be sold!
Wing backs are never a sore point except for Sam Anderson. Not sure I've ever had a lockdown starter play as low as a 7.07 which secures his sale in the summer. Marc Fernandez is in the attributes but might get a shot at starting if not he'll have plenty of game time. On the right, it's a bigger issue. Guruzeta has been good but Graca has been great. Scared i get an offer i can't refuse for the guru. Graca is going nowhere.
Center back is the most overstocked position in the history of time. Only Osorio will be moved on despite nobody having a stand out season. Silva nad Massart are the standouts in the stat & attribute sheets but i think Guimaraes & Dredge are good enough to be around this squad. Sadly at least one of them won't be as McKenna is a lockdown squad member for life and that leaves one spot with lots of players on loan looking for there turn.
Gyula Poser gave me a unexpected problem as he outplayed Cimirotic, now my best player. HE was a lock to be sold in the summer but now i have to think about a new contract and worse actually missing him if i do have to sell. Lazinho who came in on a free did enough to hang around next term. Martinez has not had a good few years and we'll be listening to offers for him.
Wingers like wing-backs rarely let me down Arca & Daza are the lockdown starters and i have quality back up in Kennedy on the right. Dutari was bought for 28/29 so i will forgive his abysmal rating due to having little else in reserve for the left.
Up top Sheldon in the team goat. Loyal to Aberdeen till at least 2031 he is my lockdown starter. Iving was his sidekick for the start tile a muscle tear put him out for 4 months. In stepped my record-smashing Italian striker and he almost makes me forget Ceyan with his better than a goal a game return. That's the 3 i expect to be keeping. Vergara dropped down to no4 option and Baylee Cummings will fight it out with several other Scottish strikers out on loan to keep his spot in my squad.


My Players of the Year Top 3


Walter Pisano

Walter spent less than a year in Rome before getting transfer listed and the champions of Europe spent £33m to bring him in. The results are what the price tag expects as he destroyed the SPL even from starting on the left-wing while Ceylan was still here. When he hit a hat-trick in September i knew we were onto something. By the end of the season, he was clearly the star of the team.

The whole of Scotland seem to agree after he won every annual award. Never had that before in this save at least.

Gyula Poser

Not a player i ever expected to be featuring in my top 3 but there we go! A youth player let go by Juventus 3 years ago for £2.4m and only ever expected to be a back up who i sold for a few million profit. The late sale of Roncatto forced my hand and i had to play him but quickly he showed me i didn't need to buy a new midfielder in January. I still would have and as the year went on he got better and better ending his year with a stonking 7.65. His black mark is being under 7 for the Champions League so maybe not good enough for the biggest stage.


Marcus Sheldon

You know when you love someone and it feels right but eventually they leave you for someone better while the right choice has been under your nose all along. Well Mr Right its Mr Sheldon. England best striker has just finished his 7th season at the club, never pushing too hard for a transfer and amazingly after becoming my clear no2 to Ceylan he still decided to sign a new long term deal at Aberdeen. This season was his best since 23/24 clearly living up to the role that fell to him. Once i update the record scorers charts on P1 Sheldon might be casing Joey Harpers club record.



SPL Final Table

One win short of our greatest season but for the 8th year out of 9 we scored more goals than the previous season. Rangers and Celtic both had strong seasons but need us to lose more players or to gain more quality themselves. Hearts, St Mirren and Dundee Utd have been the best of the rest for the past 5 seasons along with Hibs who miss out on top 6 this time. Kilmarnock was awful and i have an intent to sign their 17-year-old superstar Scot at last now there down to the championship.


Play-Off
Livingston 2-6 Partick

Livingston is emphatically relegated in the playoff by Partick.


Champions League
PSG 1-1 Bayern
Bayern win on pens

The French side loses in the final for the second year in a row. Celtic and Aberdeen do the nation proud.


Europa League
Porto 0-2 Man City

Porto could not pull off a Europa league miracle. Rangers lost to Lazio which is disappointing but not tragic.


Europa League 2
Dynamo Kyiv 1-2 RB Salzburg

Good effort from the other Scottish sides St Mirren to the last 32 and Ross County to the last 16. Dundee Utd fell in the final qualifying round.

​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

Season Preview 10
Pre Season 2028/29


SPL's longest-serving manager leaves to take charge of France.

Whoever this is replaces him as my fiercest rival.

Transfers

A quiet window for us as we continue to clear our the dregs.


In

Lautaro Giacinti - MC

We needed to add a new central midfielder with my two backups MCs leaving. He'll quickly get a shot at starting.

Marcelo Musson - DC

While looking for my new center midfielder i stumbled across a top drawer defender. I know another center back. Its an addiction at this stage.


Only 3 Youths join as i was just trying to rush through the summer.

Out
As usual, a lot going on here. We sold Messi. Not that Messi but African Messi. Milan stumped up £45m for my back up striker after scoring piles for Benfica and Dortmund in the past 2 seasons. Speaking of Dortmund they found £40m for the best player i sold this summer in Martinez. Performances did not match his stats. Vergara Was the original odd man out upfront. Basically he was the most valuable of the expendable forwards. Gyula Poser was asking for a ridiculous wage so i cashed in on him while Sam Anderson, Coelho and Osorio fell short for us last season but return massive profits and the final major name was Greg Donaldson who lost the battle of domestic forwards. I cut my losses on 3 youths that did not develop. Big teams involved which always worries me.


Squad

Seven 4*+ players with Massart and Samardzic both 5* potentials should help our defense in the future.


Youth Squad

We have far too many great DCs with 4* potential in almost every position.​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

August


Fixtures

With no major obstacles in the first month we follow on from our strongest pre-season and win 5 games with 5 clean sheets. At the other end, Pisano, of course, led the way scoring a goal in every game with Shelton and Daza making lethal starts. Dundee Utds terrible start was not shown in the new firm derby as they pushed us all the way even with 10 men.


SPL Table

The Dons and Celtic make perfect starts with Rangers only drawing 1 game but have a lead scorer from Left Back.


Champions League

Arsenal & Lazio will make for a great 3-way tussle for the group.


Transfers

Aberdeen
We made no changes to the squad despite trying to sell and or loan a DC.


SPL Transfers

Celtic & Rangers were both busy upgrading there squad. Hibs sold there best player without upgrading the squad sadly.​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

September


Fixtures

Two months down and the second month of nothing but victory and clean sheets. Hopefully, were as good as we look and haven't just peaked too soon? In pre-season we won everywhere but the defense was not this rock solid. A carry-over from last year except for left-back Fernandez who did play over 20 games is not exactly much change. Rangers were the only side to keep us under 4 goals but that game was also done by half time. 7 more goals for Pisano.


SPL Table

​

Celtic are a few games back due to European qualifiers but look lie they will be our biggest challenge this season if we slip up along the way. Hearts are the last side looking for a win in the early going. Arca's 2nd in the goals list is thanks to scoring all 4 against Dundee from the left-wing. I was tempted to try to give him a Ronaldo style move to be a forward but was not suited to being a put and out striker and we have too many as it is.

Champions League

Our first game was our easiest and we thumped Ferencvaros. A tougher game at the Emirates next time out but i'll take the point from our toughest away game.​

 

[Brane_Orsou]

France? FRANCE!? Neil Lennon is in charge of FRANCE ???

 

[Mr_Grieves]

France? FRANCE!? Neil Lennon is in charge of FRANCE ???

They must be desperate for a top 3 finish!

 

[Mr_Grieves]

October


Fixtures

Celtic are the first team to score and take points off us. They seem to be very well organized under Jesse Marsch and we'll see them in the League cup final after they beat Rangers 4-1


SPL Table

Despite dropping points we are still 7 points clear of the old firm. Comfortable but not as safe as they both find there shooting boots.


Champions League

A win and a draw with Lazio secure our spot in the last 16. A win in our final game with Arsenal should secure the top spot.​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

November


Fixtures

4 big wins in the league extend our gap at the top to 9 points from cup final rivals Celtic. Rangers are far more clumsy with how they are dropping points.


SPL Table

Both sides of the old firm have a quality option leading there strikeforce. It's enough to get them clear of Hamilton & Hibs but for now, they are a good bit off Aberdeen. Dundee Utd is worrying me. There start has been utter trash.


The first batch of sackings has taken place

Champions League

Arsenal got the late winner to hold the lead going into the group decider in December.​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

League Cup Final 2028
Aberdeen 5-2 Celtic

On the face of it a 5-2 win in a cup final must be easy. Well, look at the times of the scorers. Celtic went in 2-0 at half time and was probably the better team. I can't take the credit for the turnaround as i usually just shout at them but we have never come storming back like this with 4 goals in 5 minutes totally flipped the game.​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

December


Fixtures

We follow up our league cup win with 6 more wins in the league. Walter Pisano struck 3 penalties for his 5 goals in a quiet month for him. Celtic in 2nd was the big match and the big green machine was on the kingsford battlefield shooting themselves in the foot getting two players sent off. That should have made this a walkover but Celtic was level till the last 5 minutes when the newly resigned Ivings tucked home the goal that might have settled the league.


SPL Table

How is the Russian league still better than this? The game is 12 points and having only dropped 2 points all season so we stay very optimistic about defending the title. The ugly sisters are set up for a good fight for 2nd at least. The rest are at a lower level. Tucakovic doing wonders on loan again. I really need to give him a go at Aberdeen next season. 3 teams tied for the playoff spot. I wonder when Dundee Utd will decide if there going to be a solid top 6 SPL team of relegation fodder? Cant follow them from one year to another.


Champions League

Only a 77th-minute dodgy penalty from former Anderlecht star Verschaeren denied us top spot. We may have deserved the win today but the dropped points to Lazio cost us in the big picture.


Last 16 Draw
Inter Milan vs Aberdeen

We play the best team in Italy. These past 4 seasons have 1 Champions League final, 2 semi-finals, and a Europa League final and we have a big challenge ahead of us to overcome them.
​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

January


Fixtures

All was going well. Despite changes to the squad, we thumped Ross County in the cup and Hamilton and St Johnstone in the league. We had closer games against Ross County and Dundee Utd where we played some younger players and rested some first-teamers including giving a scoring debut to Louis Bullen. More on him later. The big red splodge on the 31st of January signals the first defeat of the season in the most tragic of places. In fairness, Rangers were by far the better team in the first half where they won the game going 2-0 up. Pisano and Ivings got us back in the game but it wasn't enough and Rangers put the league back on life support.


SPL Table

The gap is down to 11 points with 13 games to go. We should still be strong favorites but with cup and champions league games ahead my transfer moves may be cause for concern.


Transfer Window


Aberdeen

Another £100m comes into the club and i throw £22m at the best Scottish u18s out there. The real headline as always is the players leaving. Silva especially was my best defender on paper but the results against Rangers backed up my thoughts from the Champions League games that this current squad is not quite there and we will have to spend cash in the summer to get "guaranteed" good players for the big games.


In

Louis Bullen - MC

Remember me talking about a wonderkid at Kilmarnock? Well, here he is! An ideal player for my box to box role in the big games. Already played 57 games for Kilmarnock he has everything required to be a career player. He was set to spend the rest of these seasons with my u18s but with other leaving i excitedly put him in the starting 11 and from 3 games he's scored 3 goals. He won't start every game but what a player we have on our hands.

Scott Welsh - ML

Despite costing the same as Bullen Welsh is a year younger and nowhere near as developed as the Killie youngster. Welsh, however, was the best potential Scottish winger I've noticed in the save and i had to pay a premium to get him off our biggest rivals. A big gamble!


Out
As usual, the outgoings catch the headlines over the new buys. The biggest move was one I've been trying to move on since the summer. Joaquim Silva was the biggest name in our overflowing defense but it took over 7 months to get the value i wanted. Gabriel Rodriguez and Lazinho were backups good enough for the first team so when two big clubs noted interest we negotiated huge profits that will enable me to move my superstars from the u18s into the first team quicker than planned. Greg Kennedy was into his last 18 months of the deal and despite being a top-notch back up he wanted more money than i wanted to pay so i cashed in on him now to get a better look as Simic before the summer arrives.
Finally, Logan, Wallace & Guimaraes will bring in £330k a month in loan fees while getting first-team games.


SPL Transfers

Rangers make massive sales. Worryingly they still saw us off.


World Transfers 2028

Man Utd make 3 of the top 4 purchases.​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

February

The on-off takeover talk goes a step further. Stewart Milne must be chomping at the bit to get his hands on somebody's billions.

Fixtures

Only 3 league games and we win them all. The Edinburgh games were straight forward but i was worried against St Mirren where we played quite a few kids who looked to have thrown away two points before u18 striker Samuel scored and u18 winger Welsh who had already scored added an assist. We won both our cup games at a canter despite resting players once again.


SPL Table

Celtic have emerged as the lead old firm side but there 12 points behind. WE play both of the Old Firm 4 days apart in March. We could all but wrap up the title there. Hamilton & Hibs look safe for the top 6 while the final spot is anyone's.


Champions League Last 16 1st leg
Aberdeen 4-0 Inter

We have 1 foot in the quarter-finals. Sheldon was on fire here single-handedly winning this game.​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

March

The takeover fails which is a godsend after talks of removing me for there own manager! From that extreme i got a new contract for the next 5 years with only 3 months of the current deal left it was a welcome offer

Fixtures

Partick & Dundee lived up to there bottom half credentials by giving us no issues so going into the Celtic game we had the chance to go 15 points clear and settle the league but for the 2nd time we had a game i declare must win and for the second time we don't show up. This was even worse than the Rangers defeat we were utterly toothless on this night still hungover from the Inter tanking i suppose you could say, i, however, will not get away from the fact we were pish. Only 3 days later and with both teams missing double-digit amount of players due to international duty but both sides still had plenty talent to put on a show with the Dons always being the better side probably slightly better off in terms of best 11 missing. Hearts had a chance against a weak team but their relegation issues were not helped by Aberdeen.


SPL Table

5 games to go and were 9 points clear. It's not quite over a draw with Celtic should be enough if we can do the business in our first match with Hamilton. Pisano is only 4 goals short of beating Larsson's SPL record of 35 goals a season. Will this be his last chance to beat it though? The Split is done and it was Dundee who are the leagues for the side after Celtic actually moved up to 5ht passed Hibs, 4 teams in the relegation hunt, except Partick they have all had better days in the SPL over the past decade


Managers​

Virtually all of the bottom 6 have changed managers at some point. Jim Goodwin swaps Dundee for Paisley, Former dons keeper Danny Ward is at Partick leading them towards relegation but its the Edinburgh sides recent moves that catch the eye. Radja Nainggolan of Inter & Roma fame in his playing days has his first dabble at management. He's already made a foe with me complaining about the number of foreign players i have. Bad enough Klippybo saying it but at least he's Scottish! Hibs grab former Sturm Graz manager El Maestro how can he fail with a name like that. Not very Serbian but that's where he's from apparently.

Champions League last 16 2nd leg
Inter 5-2 Aberdeen
Aberdeen win 6-5 on agg

Holding a 4 goal lead i rested Winders Daza & Arca and Cimirotic missed out with injury. Not sure how much that was responsible for the collapse however Sheldon decided to finish off his work from the first leg twice getting us level in the first half and doing just enough to secure progress.

Atletico & Chelsea also overcome the seeding to reach the last 8.

Q/F Draw
Aberdeen vs Man Utd

No easy tie at this stage but when i could have got Benfica or Arsenal, especially Benfica would have been a walkover compared to United and there many many Dons castoffs including Eder the great coming back to Kingsford 1 last time.​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

April & May
A two-month review so you know what that means


Injury robbed Pisano's chance of beating Larsson's 35 goals in a season record, although he really slowed up after Christmas.


Fixtures

A minor hiccup With a draw to Celtic but in only extended the season by one more game as we wrapped it up at Dundee a week later.
We destroyed Dundee Utd in the cup semi-finals so their treble is still on.


Final SPL Table

Champions League Quarter-Finals

1st Leg
Aberdeen 5-2 Man Utd

The dramatic game saw us led twice and Man Utd fought back to equalize twice. Then Sheldon decided to show the world why i was wrong to fall in love with Ceylan as my lead striker scored a hattrick that gives us a huge advantage to take to Old Trafford

2nd leg
Man Utd 3-0 Aberdeen
Man Utd 5-5 Aberdeen, Man Utd win on AGG

This is a mess! We were still 3 goals clear at HT and could keep on playing on the counter-attack but somehow we let there two best players tear us to shreds. Disgustingly it was Ceylan that scored the two goals that put us out.
​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

Scottish Cup Final 2029

Aberdeen 0-1 Celtic​

Were the better team, had far more chances and despite scoring more goals this season than ever before we couldn't score today to add another treble.

Perhaps the biggest side of that story is that this ended a 32 match unbeaten run in the Scottish cup going back to 2023.

​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

Season 9 Review



Aberdeen Squad

Neither keeper stood out and these are the top 2 at the club. No idea what I'm going to do here as i have never really replaced Joe Lewis.
Kevin Graca was the sole defender that really impressed. Samardzic was not bad but well short of previous center backs. McKenna has regressed to being 4th at best in line. Vic Massart fell on his backside while Musson never really impressed without a run of games. Left-back was a mess and will be addressed in the summer after Fernandez got dropped and Ritchie was even worse. Guruzeta did nothing to prove his requests for more first-team action. Stevie McCunnie from the u18s might be the gem waiting for a first-team chance but next year might be a bit to soon.
Daza brought the assists and Arce brought the goals. Both are coming back next season. Cimitrotic had major regression in the Ave rating despite getting more time in his preferred position. Giacinti is sufficient to back up for Cimirotic and my new starter Louis Bullen proved that maybe getting the kids in is the best idea after i questioned McCunnie above. Kanerva will have some major competition for the 4th MC spot while speaking of backups Trilles made his debut and scored a hattrick and got sent off. The first part may be enough to stay at the clubs 1st team next year while Dutari again did more than enough as a back up to Arce.
Sheldon is my best player who i never plan to sell. Pisano & Ivings come with flaws while Logan should be my 3rd striker next season if i sell either of those two. Of all the u18s it's the strikers i think are least ready for the first-team squad.


My Players of the Year Top 3

1st Walter Pisano

The man is a living goal! Less prolific in the big games which may be his downside if a really good bid comes in.


2nd Alexander Daza

He didn't score as often as Arca but the average rating was far higher and it was a far higher than his previous bet.


3rd Marcus Sheldon

His goals were not as frequent as Pisano but he scored the vital goals in games against Rangers, Celtic and in the league cup final. He's signed up till 2033!


SPL Final Table

We get our highest points and most wins. Neither are league records but still very nice. Celtic have clearly moved into the 2nd force and i really struggled to beat them. I tried a few different things against them but just couldn't get a win. Rangers despite there money were nowhere in the second half of the season. Dundee makes a storming finish to the season to move all the way to 4th ahead of Hamilton & Hibs who are now top 6 regulars. Dundee Utd were the underachievers but scrambled clear of Partick Thistle who suffered from 2 recent promotions and being way out of there depth

Play-Off
St Johnstone 8-2 Kilmarnock

The Saints did not ever look in danger of getting relegated.


Champions League
Chelsea 2-0 Man Utd

20 years on from the penalty shoot out where Terry slipped Chelsea get there revenge with a 2-0 win in Madrid. Poor Galatasary in the last 16.


Europa League
Liverpool 0-2 Tottenham

Both sides of the Old Firm drop out at the last 16. Tottenham also gets revenge from previous Champions League failures.


Europa League 2
Bayern Munich 0-1 RB Leipzig

St Mirren was the only Scottish side making an impact here.
​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

Season Preview 11
Pre Season 2029/30


My least favorite investors of all time. Not wanting to invest any money and they ruined a pile of player sales and buys that we had lined up. They then pulled out less than a week later.

That was not even the worst news of the summer. My half-assed side don't make it out of the group phase of the World Club Cup

In better news, we go into the season as a billion-dollar club

Transfers

We break the club and national record for the best left-back I've had since Vale then goes to South America to attack the minimum fee market.


In

Amadu Junior - DL

Since losing Vale to PSG none of my upstarts since have been good enough at the top level and now with the best players locked in for the next 2 seasons, i had to spend top dollar for the best player out with the top teams since none of them want to join Aberdeen. I tried to get Keiran Tierney but the £130m negotiation was as far as it got.

Alfredo Paleso - DC

Fresh from his first cap with Uruguay i had to spend the release clause for a super exciting defender. I considered him for a starter but with Dortmund putting in an offer i decided to let him go for the season.

Rudolfo Correa - MC

All i need to say is Correa was on a minimum fee clause of £5.5m, not £55m but £5.5m! He's at worst the second-best midfielder that takes the pressure off Bullen for the big games.

Edgar Candia - AT

A Minimum fee man who's made an exciting start to his career.


7 youngsters with Billy Rae being the man to watch, another possible best Scottish regen?

Out
The big clear out and we are down to 17 men on loan but were more interested in the names at the other end of the scale. Our lead scorer from the past 2 seasons Walter Pisano was moved on. He or Ivings was going to be sold but at double the offer, Pisano was the one after 93 games and 92 goals. What could have been if we kept him! Never mind Sheldon will lead the strikeforce now. Vic Massart was not a must-start for the Dons. He didn't get on with half of the defense and his rating never matched his stats. He was a wunderkind with lots of potential but i did not have a strong feeling about him so i did my usual wait for a bid over £50m for the CB as it rose quickly during the summer with Lazio originally leading the charge. I was trying to sell Bertini in June no luck at £15m so i removed him from the transfer list and was ready to start him again next season. Then i laughed, in came Roma with an offer of £36m. They're nuts! Guimaraes, Dredge, and Spinelli never hit the wunderkinds hights but made me a profit. Once Amadu Junior joined Marc Fernandez's days were numbered. Amazed i got £25m for him. Hurst, Simic, Cummings, Kone, Ruiz, Tucakovic, Immonen, Currie, and Molina had not done enough for a future role in the first team.


Squad

Sheldon's the GOAT, Our midfield is elite, The next 12 months is about getting a starting 11 of 4* or more/ 8/11 at the moment we need a GK, DR, DC. Graca should keep the DR spot.


Youth Squad

6 or 7 players have the first-team potential, most out on loan just now.​

 

[Brane_Orsou]

Still no sign of a new keeper or do you have your eyes on someone?

 

[Mr_Grieves]

Still no sign of a new keeper or do you have your eyes on someone?

I've not found one but not really looked but trying to get the value up on the backlog of keepers i have. Really want to at least give them a chance despite it being my weakest position.