Berwick Rangers: An English Club in Scotland

[Hampus Silverholt]

Yeah mate if you wouldn’t mind putting up screenshots, that’ll be great thanks!

I’m on mac so I click with two fingers but I presume it’s a right click when hovering over a team name, then it should give you the option to “get team report” then I just assign a scout to each team.

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Most of the reports should come in the next day, then I go into look at the squad.

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I’ve customized the current squad view so I can see players’ potential and current ability so I sort the players by that. With Universiadad de Chile only the top 2 players look worthwhile scouting based on their potential so I’ve just got a normal scout report on them.

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And just to over explain it here’s how you put the current and potential ability in the squad view.

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It’s a quick and easy way to find the best players from certain teams and its how I got most of my players from Brazil and Argentina in particular. As I said before, scouting the youth internationals teams is how I found a lot of my players as well!

Congrats on finally winning the Scottish cup! Still a thoroughly enjoyable read and looking forward to seeing how next season pans out in the new stadium!

Cheers mate, I'm interested to see if we've got enough fans to sell out every week haha

Last time I read this post Berwick was just in the Premier - now they are 4 time champions! You're doing a fantastic job.

The new stadium will help you out massively - look at those shirt sales for example - hoe are you only selling 3000+ shirts!

The shirts thing never seems to work right. My rangers save starts with around 30k being sold, despite in real life there's 50k fans everyother week wearing them minimum. Similar happens in game with Celtic.

Yeah I can't say I paid too much attention to the shirt sales but does seem like it's a bit broken. I was more pleased with the new main sponsor deal and hopefully having a capacity rising from 4,000 to 16,000 brings in a lot more money too

 

[Hampus Silverholt]

2030 World Cup

Something that I forgot to mention in the previous post is that Berwick have moved up to 22nd​ in the European club rankings.

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Over the summer my attention turned to the World Cup as many Berwick players were representing their countries… including 5 for Scotland. In fact Scotland were ranked 12th​ in the world before the tournament and so were expected to progress from their group containing Tunisia, Australia and Portugal.

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They got off to the perfect start against Tunisia with Berwick legend George Neil scoring the first and Berwick youngster Iain Kelly scoring the winner late on.

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Scotland then beat Portugal 4-2 in their next group game with Kelly and Neil both getting on the scoresheet again.

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That win, I presumed, put them in the driving seat for the group but Scotland only just progressed to the next round after losing their final group game to Australia.

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Unfortunately for Scotland, Germany were their opponents in the 2nd​ round. But that didn’t stop George Neil!

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His brace put him amongst the top scorers in the tournament. The quarter final game was one I decided to attend… because it was against England! However this time there was nothing George Neil could do.

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England lost to Romania of all countries in the semifinal and Italy went on to win the tournament.

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Berwick’s third choice centre back Sergio Paulo started in that game for Italy. We have a World Cup winner in our squad who’s not even in our starting XI!

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Overall George Neil came second in the golden boot race and Iain Kelly won best young player of the tournament.

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Funnily enough Neil will be backup for us this season and I’ve decided to loan Kelly out, as I didn’t want to stunt his development by having him as a backup to the backup.

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Scotland’s success in the World Cup means that Steve Clarke will remain their manager for the foreseeable future. He’s been in charge for 10 years and has taken Scotland from 77th​ to 8th​ in the world rankings in that time so I can’t really complain about him still being there.

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On the other hand Russell Martin is in charge of Scotland Under 21s and seeing as the Scotland job is out of reach for now, the u21 gig seems the next best thing.

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So with that in mind I was able to offer him a contract as a coach at Berwick thinking that it would make the u21 job available so I could takeover. I sort of didn’t realise that he could be a coach for us and under 21 manager for Scotland at the same time.

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Worth a try I suppose…
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[ratmsm1]

Hows Billy Gilmour developed in game? In real life he looks like he could potentially turn into a superstar

 

[Hampus Silverholt]

Hows Billy Gilmour developed in game? In real life he looks like he could potentially turn into a superstar

He’s a regular premier league player for Middlesbrough and one of Scotland best players but looks like Chelsea stunted his growth a bit with his lack of appearances for them.

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[Hampus Silverholt]

2030/31 Season Preview

It's our 14th season in charge of Berwick and we’ve made only one key transfer in the summer 2030 window.

Jose Ramon Montero for Free from Espanyol

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Montero is one of the best free transfers I’ve made. The fact he’s had no Spain caps makes me wonder how Spain got knocked out of the group stages of the World Cup with such a strong squad.

There were no significant transfers out except for perhaps Robert Koeman who left for FC Ingoldstadt for £2.7m.

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He still holds the record for most goals scored in a Champions League game with 6… but he just simply isn’t good enough for us anymore.

I’ve also continued trying to offload players that are not good enough for us but will be good enough for other teams in the Premiership.

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All 6 of those players are under 23 and will be in the first team at their new clubs.

Aside from the domestic treble, the board expects us to reach the first knockout round of the Champions League. I want to go at least one better than last season by reaching the quarter finals.

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Also the media’s dream XI for the SPL are all Berwick players demonstrating the strength of our team now.

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However we’re still spending far less than Celtic.

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I could not work out how Celtic were spending so much more than us. Then I realised…

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They’ve had a bit of a fire sale and sold 3 of their best players this summer, replacing one of them with this centre back for £9m, paying him £110,000 a week! He’s good, but not £110k a week good. The AI confuses me sometimes.

And after employing Russell Martin in the attempt to try and takeover his job as Scotland under 21 boss we’ve now sent him on a coaching course.

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Great…
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[Hampus Silverholt]

Season Start and Champions League Group

The vultures are already circling after the transfer window was shut as both Barcelona and Real Madrid seem keen on our centre backs and strikers. It looks like a good run in the Champions League is needed to keep them at the club for the long term.

The first competitive game at the new stadium was against Dunfermline in the League Cup.

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And there could not have been a more fitting scorer of the first goal at Berwick Stadium than George Neil, Berwick and Scotland’s all time highest goalscorer.

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Just look at all those seats!

Having said that, we still haven’t had a capacity crowd yet with attendances of 14,000 and 15,000 in our two home league games. The full capacity of the stadium is 16,500.

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It goes without saying that we’ve won all our games so far and are top of the league. Rangers have made a great start after finishing 5th​, 6th​ and 6th​ in their last 3 seasons.

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We’ve also been given a tough group for the Champions League. However it’s nice to be playing new teams after seemingly coming up against Benfica and A.C. Milan every year.

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Champions League 2030/31 Group D

Berwick Rangers
Tottenham Hotspur
Futebol Clube do Porto
Real Sociedad de Fútbol

We won all our group games last season but that won’t be happening this year. Spurs were losing finalist last season and Porto are no mugs either so we’ll have to be at our best to progress.

Celtic haven’t got the easiest group either.

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Hibs and Hearts are both in the Europa League group stage too.

Elsewhere, 17-year-old Lee Murray has become the first player from the Berwick academy to play for Scotland.

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He’ll probably be a mainstay in the squad for a number of years and hopefully at some point I get to manage him as Scotland manager.
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[FM_TNSSO]

Much rather your champions league group than Celtics.....can't see them getting off the bottom of the group in that one....killer of a group for them!

 

[ChrisDCFC]

Excellent story mate. Really enjoying it.

Quick question - do you pay much attention to the star ratings on your players?

 

[Hampus Silverholt]

Much rather your champions league group than Celtics.....can't see them getting off the bottom of the group in that one....killer of a group for them!

Wait until you see how they did against Barca!

Excellent story mate. Really enjoying it.

Quick question - do you pay much attention to the star ratings on your players?

Cheers mate and yeah I do quite a bit as my assistant manager and scouts both have very good judging current and potential ability. But I never sign a player purely based off their star rating, I always look at their attributes and compare them with others at the club if need be.

 

[Hampus Silverholt]

Champions League at Berwick Stadium

The first European night at our new stadium ended with a comfortable win over Real Sociedad. We’re still 700 fans away from a capacity crowd though!

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Somehow Celtic managed to beat Barcelona 5-1 in their group!!

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In our next Champions League game we lost 3-1 to Spurs in what was an even game.

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If Herrera didn’t give away a penalty in the first 5 minutes (he’s the same player that got sent off after 50 seconds against Chelsea last season) and our goalkeeper was able to catch a routine cross then who knows what the score would’ve been.

In our 3rd​ group stage game we got an important victory away against Porto.

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That left us looking good for qualfication to the knockout rounds.

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We’ve also won 9 out of 9 in the league as well as reaching the League Cup semi final as we look to reach the final for the 6th​ year in a row.

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I’m more interested in what goes on behind us especially if Rangers can finish above Celtic for the first time in this save.

At the beginning of the save the leagues I had loaded were all the countries in the UK as well as Ireland. This meant people like Paul Baron were included in the database and for a few years he was our assistant manager. He’s now Rangers manager.

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Can’t imagine that being replicated in real life somehow.
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[JT3197]

beat Porto at home and your through the group I think. Be interesting to see how far you can take the stadium - unbelievable you cant fill it for Champ League games. a real glitch in the game i think as there would be loads of glory hunters supporting Berwick by now I would think.

 

[Hampus Silverholt]

beat Porto at home and your through the group I think. Be interesting to see how far you can take the stadium - unbelievable you cant fill it for Champ League games. a real glitch in the game i think as there would be loads of glory hunters supporting Berwick by now I would think.

Yeah I've seen people on this story and others comment on how unrealistic the attendances are sometimes. I still struggle to believe that less than 100 Berwick fans go to European away games.

 

[Hampus Silverholt]

Group Stage Qualification and Rampant Rangers

After beating Rangers 2-1 in the semi final we will play Falkirk in the final of the League Cup.

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It’s the first time they’ve been in a final since I’ve started this save.

However our league game against Rangers did not go as well as they thwarted our attempt of an unbeaten season.

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We dominated the game despite being down to 10 men for half of it and if we took our chances we would have won 5-1.

In the Champions League we drew our 4th​ group stage game against Porto but beat Real Sociedad in our next game.

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That win confirmed our qualification to the knockout round.

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Our final group stage game against Tottenham will be a decider for who finishes top of fthe group.

Aside from the Rangers loss it’s been business as usual.

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This is the point in the season where I say that we’re running away with the league and it’s only a matter of time before we win it. But this season we’re far from running away with it.

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We’re in a real title fight with Rangers. I do expect them to tail off eventually but our former assistant Paul Baron is doing an amazing job there considering they haven’t finished in the top 4 the past 3 seasons.

Next up is the League Cup final and we’ll also find out who our opponents are in the 1st​ Knockout Round of the Champions League… hopefully it’s not Chelsea again.
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[Klippybo]

WOW - well done. Some going there. Cant believe that guy even got called up to the Italian squad lol but there you go.

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Is the fact Rangers are putting up a genuine title fight this season reigniting yoir interest in the league again?

 

[Hampus Silverholt]

WOW - well done. Some going there. Cant believe that guy even got called up to the Italian squad lol but there you go.

I signed him from Santos and he was definitely Brazilian back then but all of a sudden for that World Cup he was in the Italy squad haha

Is the fact Rangers are putting up a genuine title fight this season reigniting yoir interest in the league again?

Unless they're within a realistic chance with 8 games to go then no, they're just having an amazing season so far. Main interest is still in Champions League progression

 

[Hampus Silverholt]

League Cup Final and Champions League Opponents

In our defence of the Scottish Cup we’ve been drawn against St Johnstone in the 4th​ round.

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They’re top of the Championship and have two 17 year old strikers on loan from Hibs and Celtic who are banging in the goals.

In the other domestic cup competition we faced Falkirk in the final.

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That’s our 4th​ League Cup in a row. Our rotated side dominated the first 44 minutes and then decided to almost bottle the game. We were, however, much the better side.

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The game actually highlights a problem we’re starting to have which is conceding more goals than we should be. Last season we kept a record number of clean sheets but this season we seem to always concede even if the opposing team only has one shot on target. We’re able to get away with it in Scotland because of our quality but the same can’t be said against teams in the Champions League.

Talking of which, we had our final group stage game against Spurs to see who would finish top of the group.

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Well that was unexpected. Spurs lined up in a 4-3-1-2 formation so we played with wide players and exploited the flanks, who knew being a football manager was so easy?

And with that, for the second season in a row, we finished top of our Champions League group.

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Celtic unluckily finished 3rd​ in their group of death and will join Hibs in the Europa League knockout stage.

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Notice how Barcelona finished second in that group?

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Euuuggghhhhh. For the second season in a row our prize for winning our group is an opponent who are one of the favourites for the competition. We face a squad with many handsomely paid, world-class players.

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Still, at least our 13 best players are not all wanted by bigger clubs at the same time.

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For some reason the value of our players has dropped considerably. A couple of seasons ago we had players valued at £25m+ now we have only two players valued at £10m or more. We’re going to do well to keep all of them in January.

We head into 2031 top of the table with our most recent victory over Rangers being an important one as it gave us some breathing room.

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Now it’s time to make sure we still have our best players at the club by the time we play Barca.
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[Hampus Silverholt]

January Transfer Window

In the January transfer window we managed to let 6 players join other SPL clubs.

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All 6 are under 21, were bought for little money and are good enough to be first team members for their new club, which is as positive as we aim to improve the overall quality in the SPL.

You might’ve noticed that there’s also been a significant departure from the club, with right back Juan Grecco joining Man City for £16.5m.

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When he first joined he only played on the left hand side but we trained him up to be a natural right back. After 2 and a half years at Berwick, earning £20,000 a week, he now earns £130,000 a week at Man City.

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We did however find a replacement for him.

Alejandro Alaniz has joined Berwick for a club record fee of £15.5m from LOSC Lille

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With the Grecco money we signed Alejandro Alaniz, another Argentine right back. He’s on twice the wage Grecco was on but is an upgrade from him, which means the £15.5m we spent on him is good business even though it’s Berwick’s record transfer.

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The reason why we were able to get such a high quality player for a price that wasn’t extortionate is because his contract at Lille was expiring in the summer.

Elsewhere Celtic broke their transfer record to sign a player who is only a rotation option.

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This is a club paying 38 year old Thibault Courtois £190,000 a week so that kind of questionable business is expected.

They did however need to spend in the transfer window as they are almost certain to finish below Rangers for the first time in this save.

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We’re by no means coasting to the title but for now our attention turns to Falkirk in the 5th​ round of the cup and Barcelona in the Champions League 1st​ Knockout Round 1st​ leg.

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The plan is not to get smashed at Camp Nou. That might be easier said than done.

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[Hampus Silverholt]

From Cove Rangers and BSC Glasgow to Barcelona

We could not have been in better shape going into the Barcelona game having scored 22 and conceded 0 in our last 5 games.

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The only problem was our game against Dundee United. How could there be a problem with winning a game 7-0?

Injuries. There’s your problem.

First was key midfielder Stanislav Dimitrov. I was just about to substitute him when injury forced him off against Dundee United. Nevertheless I was hoping it wasn’t that serious of an injury. It was.

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The injuries in the Dundee United game weren’t done there though. Next up was George Neil.

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It’s not as significant or serious an injury but it means that we have no backup strikers for the Barcelona game should we need to go to plan B (which involves a kitchen sink).

Still, we couldn’t let those injuries dampen our mood as we set off for our away leg in Barcelona.

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The Camp Nou is by far the biggest ground we’ve been to and makes it seem a long time ago since we were playing in front of crowds of 400 in League Two.

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In a pretty boring game we were undone by one piece of magic.

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This guy scored a 30-yard free kick to give Barca the advantage.

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And this guy was man of the match. He’s probably the best centre back in the world.

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On the balance of play we were unlucky to lose and with a smaller pitch and home support who knows what could happen in the return leg.

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We had 3 more weeks and 3 more games until the return leg, one of which was the Scottish Cup quarter final against Dundee United.

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We easily defeated them and that result meant we were paired with Rangers in the semi final.

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They’ve had a remarkable season and are taking us to the wire in the title race. It’s in no way going to be a formality when we come up against them.

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The next game is a biggie. Can we overturn a 1-0 deficit and create history?

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[Hampus Silverholt]

Barcelona Second Leg

So Berwick Stadium was host for the 2nd​ leg of our Champions League 1st​ Knockout Round game against Barcelona. We had the difficult but achievable task of overturning a 1-0 deficit from the first leg.

We went into the game with the same 4-3-3 formation as the first leg, only with our inside forwards and one mezzala on attack duty rather than support.

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Early on David Herrera picked up a knock but, other than that, little happened in the first half. That was until we entered stoppage time at the end of the half.

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David Herrera scored at the perfect time, despite picking up an injury earlier, and with that one goal made up for getting sent off against Chelsea after 57 seconds almost a year ago to the day.

Things got even better when fellow Colombian John Florez grabbed a second goal for Berwick.

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2-0! It was happening! At this point we were all over them but at the back of my mind I knew an away goal would change the whole complexion of the game. I didn’t change anything and was too scared to make substitutions.

Then there was a third goal.

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Game. Set. And Match. It was a good job I didn’t make any subs as all three of our remaining changes were then used to waste time.

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What a result! Our finest achievement yet! We’ve gone from League Two to beating Barcelona in the Champions League!

Incredibly 6 teams from England were into the Champions League quarter finals. Going into the draw either Arsenal or Schalke would’ve been our most favourable opponents.

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But we were drawn against German champions Bayern Munich.

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Champions League Quarter Final – Berwick Rangers V FC Bayern Munchen

They’re top of the Bundesliga by 8 points and unsurprisingly are favourites for the tie. But if we can beat Barca then we can beat Bayern.

There's also the small matter of a London Derby and Manchester Derby in two of the other quarter final clashes.

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Next up is Bayern Munich then. Can the Champions League journey continue?
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