Altrincham F.C. - Mission: Champions League

[Froug]

That's a really exciting team you've built! Looking forward to how these lads do in the champtionship. How are your finances looking compard to the rest of the league?

Also, you got Mejbri on a free from PSG and you don't even mention him... Is he just there to sell shirts?

 

[Hampus Silverholt]

That's a really exciting team you've built! Looking forward to how these lads do in the champtionship. How are your finances looking compard to the rest of the league?

Also, you got Mejbri on a free from PSG and you don't even mention him... Is he just there to sell shirts?

Haha I was too focused on the regens! Mejbri is probably one of our best players but we have a lot of good midfielders and attacking midfielders so have been trying him out on the left hand side. 3 assists in 2 games for PSG last season!

The finances are healthy but we make hardly anything from sponsorship and ticket revenue so are going to keep on losing money if we don't sell players. That'll all change if we get promoted though.

 

[Hampus Silverholt]

In our first game of the season, we lost away against Crystal Palace who are a good side with good players.

And despite thinking our transfer business was done, it was not!

Right-back Richie Belcher wanted to leave and Everton came in with a bid of £11m.

So he has gone.

He cost us £13,000 just 18 months ago. Everton have spent £20m on 2 right backs from us in the last 2 transfer windows. How much money do these Premier League clubs have?!

So as a replacement we triggered the £4.2m release clause for Miroslav Malashevski from Ludogorets.

We have Thomas Bak at the club who is natural right and left back so seeing Malashevski’s release clause, technical attributes, and potential persuaded me to go for him as a replacement for Belcher.

But after the Crystal Palace result, I was beginning to think that the tactic might need tweaking after a poor end to last season as well as a bad start this time around. However, we dominated our next game against Fulham to ease our fears.

Diego Silva scored on his debut and ended up getting 4 goals in August.

We end August in 6th position, and this season is already starting to have a familiar feel to it.

Also, we’re finally not spending the least amount of money on player wages in the division.

So a decent enough start. We’re going to find out if our policy of investing in youth is going to pay off in the next few months.​

 

[Hampus Silverholt]

After an easy first 2 games in the Carabao Cup, we were drawn against Liverpool in the 3rd round and narrowly lost to them.

We’ve still not been past the 3rd round of the Carabao Cup or the 4th Round of the FA Cup in this save!

However, we’ve already had our obligatory crazy win of the season against Derby where we smashed them 6-0.

It was the start of a good run of results for us in October, where we won 4 of our 5 matches.

And it means that we are top of the Championship by 2 points.

The new signings are bedding in nicely. Miguel Rubiano has 2 goals 5 assists and was recently called into the Colombia squad for the first time.

And Adie Higginson has been a rock at the back for us and has chipped in with 4 goals already.

Our next few games are favourable but we have a tough run in December, so I’m hoping first choice keeper Alex Bass is back by then.

But for now, everything is looking positive. We look on course to gain promotion to the Premier League!​

 

[Hampus Silverholt]

We continued our good start to the season in November by winning every game we played 1-0.

It was part of a run that saw us keep 6 consecutive clean sheets, which ended when we lost to Sheffield Wednesday.

After an up and down December, we are still 4 points clear at the top of the league with a game in hand.

Brandon Cooper has been performing well at centre back this campaign, forming a formidable partnership with Higginson.

He’s wanted by Oxford in the Premier League but I want a quiet January window. However, I said that last year and it turned out to be anything but that…​

 

[Hampus Silverholt]

Unlike last year, January was a quiet month for us with only one new signing.

A few squad players have gone out on loan because they were frustrated with their lack of playing time so we have made a loan signing ourselves to add some depth. Wonderkid Silvio Martorana joins us from Liverpool until the end of the season.

We lost just one game in January but that was against relegation-threatened Fulham.

And it’s very close at the top of the Championship. Burnley and Brentford keep piling the pressure on us.

Despite it being the end of January, I’m already looking at our April games. We have 3rd placed Burnley, 4th placed Stoke and 2nd placed Brentford consecutively and those games will undoubtedly define our season.

We’re also probably going to play Burnley in the 5th round of the FA Cup after wins against Huddersfield and QPR in previous rounds.

It’s the first time in the save we’ve made it past the 4th round.

I’m going to be pinning a lot of hope on young striker Trevor Dickson for the remainder of the campaign. He has just 3 goals in the league this season all of which have come in his last 3 matches.

All of his attributes suggest he should be scoring a lot of goals for us and I’m hoping that is the case for the remainder of the season. He’s the last remaining Northern Irish player at the club after the previous two were sold for huge money and signed for just £28,000 last season.

Our next 5 league matches are against teams between 6th and 12th position in the league, so it will be interesting to see if we can keep up with Burnley and Brentford.​

 

[Hampus Silverholt]

The games have come thick and fast but we’re still managing to hold our own in the Championship.

4 wins in our last 5 means that we are 5 points clear of Burnley in the playoffs with just 8 matches remaining.

And to add to that, we have made it to the quarter final of the FA Cup after beating Reading in the 5th round.

We could’ve got Chelsea, Man City or Liverpool but will face Norwich City in that match.

They’re in a relegation battle in the Premier League, so we could seriously be in with a shot of going to Wembley!

We’ll hopefully have a fully fit squad to choose from including right-back Julian Parker, who has been one of our best players since joining from Spurs for £2.5m.

Trevor Dickson has finally started to get into the scoring mood after an extended run in the team with 11 goals in 13 matches.

But it is young Colombian midfielder Miguel Rubiano who is the best of the bunch. He averages 7.26 in the Championship and will be key to our promotion push for the remainder of the season.

However, I’m still looking at those April fixtures as they’re going to decide everything. To have the FA Cup quarter-final and then Burnley, Stoke and Brentford consecutively is going to be excruciating.

8 games to go, can we get to the FA Cup semi-final? Can we get to the Premier League?​

 

[Hampus Silverholt]

The promotion push was put on hold as we faced Norwich in the FA Cup quarter-final. A place at Wembley was up for grabs so a full strength side was put out.

Despite going down twice in the match, we managed to pull off a remarkable and deserved result to get to the semi finals of the FA Cup. We’re going to Wembley!

But we had to immediately forget about that Norwich game as we had two winnable league matches against Nottingham Forest and Barnsley before our run against Burnley, Brentford and Stoke.

I also didn't realise Brentford and Burnley played one another during that time and a 0-0 was a perfect result for us.

It meant that with just 4 Championship games remaining we were 6 points clear with goal difference also on our side.

So it was down to the dreaded 3 games I had been thinking about since January.

Only this time we had the added bonus of an FA Cup semi-final against Villa, who are 12th in the Premier League.

First up for us was an away trip to Turf Moor to play 2nd placed Burnley.

A draw was more than fine and also meant that out of nowhere Stoke entered the automatic promotion zone.

The very same Stoke who we played 3 days later where a win for us would confirm promotion to the Premier League.

Job done. Altrincham are promoted to the Premier League!

Now for an FA Cup semi-final and to win the Championship outright!

 

[Hampus Silverholt]

A day before our FA Cup semi-final against Villa our best player Miguel Rubiano was ruled out by injury

With many players tired from our league exploits, I wasn’t expecting much from the game. But Trevor Dickson decided to win it on his own.

It was a bit of a smash and grab, but who cares? Altrincham are into the FA Cup final!

Dickson played out of his skin and has been a completely different player for us since January.

Chay Cooper was also outstanding in the match, contributing a goal and an assist.

And at the same time we were getting to the FA Cup final, other results in the Championship meant that we were confirmed as champions with two games to go.

We played our final two matches and ended up winning the league by 6 points. Then we had a 20 day wait until the FA Cup final.

It was confirmed that Chelsea would be our opponents after they beat Liverpool in the other semi final at Wembley.

They won the Premier League this year and the two seasons before that, so a miracle is required to beat them.

I never thought our first ever FA Cup final for Altrincham would be as a Championship side, but here we are.

We couldn’t… could we?​

 

[Hampus Silverholt]

What a win against Villa and sets up a great final to top off an excellent season. Could we see you in Europe next season as well?

I'd love to make Europe but that'd probably impact the survival chances next season. Not that it mattered anyway...

 

[Hampus Silverholt]

Our starting XI in the 2027 FA Cup final contained 2 players that were with us in League One (Fryatt and Bass) and only 4 non-regens (Bass, both Coopers and Mejrbi).

Chelsea’s team contained a lot of quality. A lot.

After a dull first half, it was inevitable that Chelsea would break the deadlock.

And despite throwing everything at them, we just couldn’t find a way through.

It was a bit of an uneventful match but I’m glad we didn’t get smashed like we did this time last year against Bournemouth in the playoffs.

Chelsea’s goalscorer Aitor is one of the best in the world and has some crazy attributes.

And so comes to an end a crazy, yet hugely successful season.

2026/27 Season Review

Stoke ended up beating Brentford in the playoff final. It means that we have 2 very good teams coming up with us and next season is going to be a real challenge.

The bottom of the Premier League was ridiculously close this season but unfortunately Oxford will be coming straight back down.

Our squad performed remarkably well this season and there is lots of Premier League potential there. The problem is that we need Premier League quality now, or else it could be a long first season in the Premier League.

7 Altrincham players were in the Championship Team of the Year, which is a ridiculous number.

And the board has given us £30m to spend in the summer. The wage budget is going to get eaten up by wage increases and the fact that every current player wants an extra £20,000 a week.

And because our Moss Lane stadium has a capacity of 7,000, we will be renting Bolton’s stadium next year.

Our new stadium will be built at the end of next season so hopefully we can survive relegation and go into the new stadium as a Premier League club still.
​

 

[Hampus Silverholt]

Our first transfer window as a Premier League club was always going to be a busy one and there’s a lot to cover.

Players Released

We’ll start with the players released. Tyrese Fornah and Aaron O’Driscoll both played huge roles in our promotions from League Two and League One, as well as our first season in the Championship and it is sad to see them go.

Callum King-Harmes has also left the club. He played a part in 4 promotions for us from the National North to the Championship.

Transfers In

Now for the exciting bit. We’ve spent £42m and thankfully have not sold any of our players.

The first player in was Bruno Carrasco for £6.25 from San Lorenzo. He’s our best signing by far.

Next in was a first choice right back. Frano Bronic cost £7m from Dinamo Zagreb.

Jesper Madsen is finally at the club. We signed him last year but I didn’t realise that he couldn’t join until he was 18.

Then we managed to get Avelino Chapanga on a free from West Ham. He’s classed as a wonderkid so it was surprising that they let his contract run out.

Another free transfer was Matt Grimes from Crystal Palace. He was the best player in the Championship last season and we needed experience in the squad.

Those signings were all made early, but I spent most of the window looking for a goalkeeper and centre back and we spent most of our budget on the following two players.

Predrag Djuric joined us for £16m from Basel making him our record transfer. I had the choice of getting him or the experienced Scott McKenna for the same price. In the end, I decided to go with youth. If we get relegated then he’ll go for big money so we might as well.

And we managed to sign Scotland’s first choice goalkeeper James Potts from Celtic for a surprisingly low fee of £8m.

That may seem like a huge amount of money spent for such a small club but we’re getting over £90m in TV money this year which is just ridiculous.

And we’re predicted to finish bottom of the table. It looks like our season will be defined on how we fare against Burnley, Stoke, Newcastle and Bournemouth.

2 of our first 3 matches are at home against Burnley and Sheffield United, so a good start is paramount if we want to stay up.

This could be a painful and ultimately unsuccessful season, but we won’t go down without a fight!​

 

[Hampus Silverholt]

Some great signings there and they will be instrumental in you staying up. Hopefully teams will massively underestimate you and you can take advantage of that

Hopefully! It shows how big the step us is when we make all those signings and are still predicted to finish bottom!

 

[Hampus Silverholt]

Our first game as a Premier League club was away against Leeds, who have established themselves as a top-half Premier League club in the last few years.

It was a mad game. But I was glad we scored twice and believed we could take that into games that we were expected to win.

Like, for instance, against Burnley at home who were promoted with us. We faced them in our second game of the season, our first at Bolton’s stadium which is home for the year.

The game could not have gone worse. Trevor Dickson scored two but missed a penalty in the last minute to equalise and our best player Carrasco got injured for a month.

It meant that our next game against Sheffield United was huge.

It was only our third game, but a 2-0 was massive for us. It was followed up by a win against Plymouth and an away loss to title favourites Chelsea (who beat us in the FA Cup final last year).

So we sit 14th in the table after our first month in the Premier League. I’d like to have more points given our opponents so far but the fact Norwich and Bournemouth haven’t won so far is a good sign.

Despite missing a penalty against Burnley, Trevor Dickson has been on fire for us. He’s the top scorer in the division and won Player of the Month for August

Not bad for someone that only got 11 goals in the Championship last year.

And just to give an indication of the ridiculous finances in the Premier League... we’re spending £425,000 a week on wages whereas every other team is spending more than treble that.

That’s not stopping the fans coming in their droves though. Even though we’re playing in Bolton, we have sold 18,000 season tickets compared to 3,000 last season. Our new stadium will only have a capacity of 16,000!

We face Brighton, Bournemouth and Everton in the next few matches so it is crucial that we don’t drop points to them in those matches.​

 

[Saibot1891]

This is really good

 

[OutsideTheBox FM]

Awesome story mate. Love a good Non League to Prem challenge!

 

[Hampus Silverholt]

This is really good

Thanks! I'm a few months ahead and it gets very interesting this season...

Awesome story mate. Love a good Non League to Prem challenge!

Cheers mate, haven't done a save like this since FM16 and am really enjoying the challenge. The Premier League is a lot harder than I remembered!

 

[Hampus Silverholt]

We’ve played 8 more league games and it’s going well… ish.

*(I DECIDED TO FORGET TO TAKE A SCREENSHOT)*

We’re 17th, one point above the relegation zone but have played a lot of the teams around us already. They include losses to Bournemouth and Everton (where former Altrincham right back Bamba scored a left footed volley because he was in the box from a deep free kick, obviously).

It reflects a stark contrast in our home and away form. All of our points this season have come at home.

Even though we’re not in the bottom three, I am apparently being too stubborn with my tactics.

I’m sorry I can’t beat Man City away with a bunch of kids who are expected to finish bottom!

One of those kids, Trevor Dickson, is still top scorer in the division and recently signed a new contract where his release clause is now £74m.

We have 8 games before the January transfer window so I’ve set a target of 8 points then to keep us ticking along.

It’s important that we don’t drop any more points to teams around us, so that Norwich game on the 18th is looking tasty.​

 

[Hampus Silverholt]

So the 8 points in 8 games idea from the last post? Wishful thinking.

We were on 11 games without a win before playing bottom of the table Norwich at home in the middle of December.

Surely we’d win this one?

Nope. This season has relegation written all over it.

We’ve won as many matches against Premier League teams this season as we did last season and we weren't even in the division! (We beat Norwich and Villa in the FA Cup).

We went on a run of scoring 3 goals in 7 Premier League games in December, which really was abysmal.

Then it all came to a head in our Boxing Day match against Villa, the same side we had beat 4-1 in the FA Cup last season.

How can we go from not scoring to that?!

Eli Amsalem scored 5 goals for Villa in the game. 5!

Do you know how many goals he had scored before that this season? 0!!!

Don’t you love constantly conceding from indirect free kicks yet never scoring any yourselves. I don’t understand why our players cannot man mark on indirect free kicks!

It’s very annoying because we’ve lost points this season specifically because of something to do with the match engine. I can’t deal with getting beat by last-minute winners from unmarked right-backs at the back post who I have specifically singled out to man-mark because of the space they were getting.

Also, morale is too overpowered. I honestly cannot see how we’re going to win another game unless morale magically picks up but there’s only a certain number of team meetings you can do…

The January transfer window is desperately needed. It’s a shame we have no budget!

But do you know what the most annoying thing is? We’re halfway through the season and STILL only 2 points from safety!

It’s the hope that kills you.​

 

[Hampus Silverholt]

I thought it’d be nice to start off with some positive news for a change. Trevor Dickson is the best player in the world under the age of 21.

Back to reality.

But what’s this? More good news?

We actually won a game! An FA Cup Third Round replay against Brighton ended our 19 game winless run, which of course was a club record.

It was the perfect result right before we played 17th placed Everton at home. I’ve used the term must win a lot, but this was a must-must win.

I cannot begin to explain what went on before this Everton game, but it was ridiculous.

Firstly, we asked the board if we could perhaps have some more of the TV money to go to our transfer budget so we could perhaps sign some players so that we could perhaps stay in the division.

It seems as if the board wants us to be the worst team in Premier League history? Not as if we have nearly £50m in the bank. Oh wait.

At least our long term assistant manager wasn’t poached by Peterborough. Oh wait.

And good job that 3 key players were available and not playing in OLYMPICS QUALIFYING MATCHES for their country. Oh wait.

Now back to the Everton game. Remember me complaining about indirect free kicks in the last post?

5’10” Aaron Ramsey scored a TOWERING header after 3 minutes… from an indirect free kick.

We did actually manage to get a goal back and looked to be on course for a draw until Oliver Skipp picked up the ball 40 yards out...

And scored with the last kick of the game. Look how far out he is!!!!!

If there was ever a game to sum up this season, this was it. You honestly could not write it.

The indirect free kick, the injury for us in the first half, the getting back into it to give us some hope and then a last kick of the game 40 yard thunderbolt from a player scoring his first of the season.

Just the 17 games without a win in the Premier League for us now.

We’re 7 points from safety, can’t buy a win and literally every conceivable thing is going against us.

Our poor old loan signings Rodriguez and Williams don’t know what they’ve got themselves into.

Sometimes you’ve just got to laugh.​