Berwick Rangers: An English Club in Scotland

I don't read many stories these days but this continues to be extremely enjoyable, keep up the good work!

As for your youth intake player, you could consider retraining him as a wing back or attacking fullback, his defensive attributes aren't too bad for a winger, and with a focus on them, he could own that entire left flank for you in a few years - his speed, flair, crossing and technique are already excellent.
 
Still enjoying the story mate and I remember the 2 red card final like it was yesterday. Unlucky in the two legs against Arsenal, I think european glory is the only thing left for you given the league seems to be yours to lose these days
 
Just read through this whole story....really enjoyed it! Berwick Rangers....the new dominant force in Scottish football....what's the aim now, to become the new Celtic and dominate for years to come?
 
PatrickLFC said:
I don't read many stories these days but this continues to be extremely enjoyable, keep up the good work!

As for your youth intake player, you could consider retraining him as a wing back or attacking fullback, his defensive attributes aren't too bad for a winger, and with a focus on them, he could own that entire left flank for you in a few years - his speed, flair, crossing and technique are already excellent.
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Cheers mate really appreciate it! I did start to train him as a striker but I think training him as a left back makes more sense. He’s already in the Scottish under 21 squad so I just have to fit him in the squad somehow and think training his as an attacking left back is the best way.

neavie pops23 said:
Still enjoying the story mate and I remember the 2 red card final like it was yesterday. Unlucky in the two legs against Arsenal, I think european glory is the only thing left for you given the league seems to be yours to lose these days
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Unfortunately that cup final loss feels like it was yesterday to me too! Would never have thought we’d reach only 1 of the next 5 finals after that one. Hopefully a Scottish Cup and a European run awaits us next season.

TheNotSoSpecialOne said:
Just read through this whole story....really enjoyed it! Berwick Rangers....the new dominant force in Scottish football....what's the aim now, to become the new Celtic and dominate for years to come?
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Short term aim is to win the Scottish Cup for the first time and to get to the knockout stages of the Champions League for the first time. Long term aim is to win the Champions League and I've also secretly been hoping Steve Clarke gets sacked as Scotland manager ever since he took the job 9 seasons ago...
 
2028/29 Season Summary

This is quite a long review of our season as well as looking at our objectives going forward.


With one game to go we broke the record for most goals scored in Premiership history.

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So we celebrated in typical fashion in the last game of the season… by drawing 0-0 against Hearts! That meant that we failed to win in only 3 league matches all season and ended with a +109 goal difference. I think it’s fair to say we’ve cracked Scotland.

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Not only did we break the record for goals scored, but we also broke the record for most points in a season.

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By finishing 5th​ Raith Rovers earned themselves a place in the Europa League next year whereas Rangers disappointed by only finishing in 6th​. Elsewhere Dunfermline won the Championship and so will be in the SPL for the first time since 2012.

Celtic also ended up winning the Scottish Cup for the 4th​ time in a row by beating Hibs in the final.

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As for us it was a mixed season. We dominated the league and won the League Cup but disappointed in the Scottish Cup and Europe.

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Premiership: Winners
Scottish Cup: Knocked out by Celtic in QF
League Cup: Winners
Champions League: 3rd​ in Group Stage
Europa League: Knocked out by Arsenal in 2nd​ Knockout Round

Every single season an English club has won the Europa League. Arsenal (who knocked us out) lost to Tottenham (who knocked Celtic out) in the final this year.

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Scottish Teams in Europa League
Celtic: Quarter Final
Hibs: 2nd​ Knockout Round
Dundee: 4th​ Qualifying Round
Rangers: 4th​ Qualifying Round

Here’s the full view of our squad.

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With 48 goals and 13 assists in 42 games Robert Koeman won every award and broke every record imaginable for Berwick

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I’m going to say it… he’s not even that good!

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However once he was in the team he didn’t stop scoring so I’m at a loss as to what to do with him next season because I want to give more Scottish players a chance in the first team.

Koeman along with Alan Jeffrey and Hector De Anda dominated the individual player stats in the league.

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Like Koeman, Jeffrey’s star rating is not that impressive… but his performances are. 14 goals and 11 assists are not bad for someone who still hasn’t really broken into the Scotland squad.

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De Anda has already proven to be a brilliant signing and I expect Europe’s top clubs to be after him this summer.

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It wasn’t just the first team who impressed this season. In fact, our under 20s won the Champions League!

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Also the takeover of Berwick has been completed.

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The transfer budget for next season was originally £7m but the new owners bumped it up to £20m.

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Objectives for Scottish football

Under the radar I’ve been making a lot of transfers for young players who are not necessarily going to get into the Berwick team but are good enough to play for other teams in the SPL. Some of them were in the under 20s team that won the Champions League whereas the others were out on loan.

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We’re not short of money, so this transfer window I’m going to offload some of these players to other clubs in the SPL at cut-price value, if I can. The thinking is that, over time, these players will improve the quality of the SPL and not only make the league more competitive for me but also help other Scottish teams progress further in European competitions.

Objectives for Berwick

The objectives for next year will be to qualify for the knockout rounds of the Champions League, win the Scottish Cup for the first time and win the league again. It sounds a lot but we’re easily capable of doing it.

Also the upcoming season is our last before we move into our new, 16,000 capacity stadium.
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Koeman is very average, unless he's going to turn into a complete monster as he's still only young!
 
I can remember having a young Sanli Tuncay who with mediocre attributes was a scoring and assisting machine. Was tempted to ship him out a few times but he was that good he was in my team until his retirement.
 
TheNotSoSpecialOne said:
Have fun with that £20 million!!
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I would've if my transfer targets weren't after extortionate wages haha!

coolmcool said:
That goal difference of 109 is crazy! KIU
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I know, ridiculous isn't it. Makes it more annoying that we haven't won the Scottish Cup or done anything significant in Europe though.

neavie pops23 said:
Koeman is very average, unless he's going to turn into a complete monster as he's still only young!
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There's better players than him but I don't think any are going to score more goals in a season than he did. But I think I've already made my mind up, we've got 2 teenage Scottish strikers who I want to give game time to so I think it's a loan move for Robert this season.

scousegin said:
I can remember having a young Sanli Tuncay who with mediocre attributes was a scoring and assisting machine. Was tempted to ship him out a few times but he was that good he was in my team until his retirement.
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I've never had a player with such average attributes perform so well, he won European Golden Boy and is already a Berwick icon after just one season!
 
Season Preview 2029/30

At the end of our first season, where we achieved promotion to League One, I made the halfhearted prediction that by 2030 we’d be in the Champions League final against Barcelona.

Now here we are at the start of the 2029/30 season, I don’t think a Champions League final will be happening but we are at least the club with the highest reputation in Scotland now.

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Transfers Out

Darren Halpin to Middlesbrough for £6m

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Only 2 first team players left Berwick this transfer window, the first being our captain Darren Halpin. He joins Middlesbrough who finished 14th​ in the Premier League last season after 5 successful seasons at Berwick

Aidan Wilson to Dundee Untied for £100,000

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Wilson joins Championship side Dundee United even though he’s been in the Scotland squad regularly for the last 3 years. He’s been with us ever since we were promoted to the Premiership but wanted to leave, as he wanted a new challenge.

Wilson was one of 6 Berwick players sold to other Scottish teams on the cheap.

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All the players on that list were not good enough to be in our first team but are probably some of the best players at their new club. We’ve basically given Hibs a whole new defence!

Transfers In

This was a bit of a weird one. We had around £18m to spend but I couldn’t find anyone that would have made a difference to the first team. We’re getting to the point where the caliber of player we are after are good enough to go to teams that can offer them 2x the amount of wages we can.

So this transfer window we’ve spent wisely and managed to keep hold onto all of our star players.

James O’Brien for £725,000 from Celtic

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After Aidan Wilson’s departure we needed a backup centre back who was Scottish and James O’Brien was the obvious choice. He’s probably one of Scotland’s best centre backs despite only being a 2 star player for us, which shows you the level we’re now at.

Adama Traore on a Free Transfer from Monaco

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Traore joins after his contract expired at Monaco where he had been for 13 years and was the experienced midfielder we needed after Halpin left. He’ll also be useful for tutoring, but I’m not sure if having a light-hearted personality is good or bad…

John Florez for £400,000 from Medellin

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Our best piece of business was young Colombian John Florez, his stats are crazy for a 19 year old. My assistant already thinks he’s reached his potential but surely he’s only going to get better. He cost just £400,000 and typifies why I constantly scout the Colombian under 20s.

Despite making £5m from transfers we now have the second highest wage spend for Scottish clubs.

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Unsurprisingly we’re expected to win everything in Scotland but the board also wants us to reach the knockout rounds of the Champions League, something that we’ve failed to achieve so far.

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Although we only failed to win in 3 league games last season, I don’t care if we only win the league on goal difference this time round. This season is all about doing something meaningful in the Champions League and winning the Scottish Cup.
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Winning Start and Champions League Group

It’s so far so good in the league… not that it’s a surprise. We have 5 wins out of 5 and have kept 3 clean sheets.

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We’re also through in the League Cup as we beat Kilmarnock 2-0. In that game 3 players from our academy started and 5 more were from Scotland demonstrating how I’m looking to blood more Scottish youth into the first team.

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Two more outgoing transfers were made before the window closed. Firstly Kurt Zouma has gone to Marseille.

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He was never in my plans this season as I expected him to retire after he broke his leg. For some reason Marseille decided to buy him whilst he was injured for 6 more weeks and help save us £32.5k a week on wages. Merci.

Also Robert Koeman got his prize for scoring the most goals in a season for Berwick and for breaking Lionel Messi’s record of most goals in a Champions League game. FC Koln have agreed to pay his wages plus £250,000 a month on a season long loan deal.

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For the Champions League Group Stage draw we were once more seeded 1st​.

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Champions League 2029 Group E
Berwick Rangers
Associazione Calcio Milan
Villarreal Club de Fútbol
Athletic Club Sparta Praha

I think we’ve got a rather favourable draw. We played A.C. Milan in the group stage last season and our head to head record against them was the reason why we didn’t qualify from our group.

For the first time in the save 2 Scottish teams are in the Champions League group stage as Celtic managed to negotiate their qualifying round games. Their prize was a group against Barcelona and last season’s winners Borussia Dortmund.

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Elsewhere Hibs are the sole Scottish representative in the Europa League group stage after Raith Rovers and Hearts were both knocked out earlier in the competition.

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Time for us to kick on and win our Champions League group!
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Solid Defence and Record Breaking Murray

For the first time in this save I decided to create a tactic with wingers as I felt playing with a 4-3-1-2 in the Champions League left us too open in wide areas.

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And it’s worked so far. In our first group stage game we beat A.C. Milan 2-0.

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Then we just about beat Sparta Prague.

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But after that we smashed Villarreal 4-0 in our third group stage game putting us top of the group without conceding a goal.

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We also beat Celtic in the League Cup semifinal, coming from behind to beat them 3-1.

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We’ll face Hearts in what will be our 5th​ consecutive League Cup final. It still amazes me how our second choice XI finds the League Cup easy but our first choice XI have never won the Scottish Cup!

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That final won’t be easy though as Hearts are the only team to have stopped us from winning in any competition this year.

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In fact, we’ve set a Premiership record of going 42 games unbeaten (and counting).

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Talking of records, Lee Murray has become Berwick’s youngest ever scorer after his strike against Raith Rovers.

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He’s also a big reason why I’ve started to use a tactic with wingers as despite being only 16 he’s already suited to Premiership football and made 11 appearances for Scotland Under 21s.

I think we've got a special, homegrown player on our hands.
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John Florez looks like a really tasty player at a bargain price!
 
Flawless Champions League Campaign

In our 4th​ group stage game we comfortably beat Villarreal meaning that, for the first time ever, Berwick have qualified for the last 16 of the Champions League.

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And in the next game we beat Milan at the San Siro for the second season in a row. That win confirmed 1st​ place in the group with one game to go.

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Next up was the 2029 League Cup final against Hearts.

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That’s the 3rd​ year in a row we’ve won the League Cup, it’s becoming a formality now! In fairness it could’ve been a different game if Hearts scored a penalty with the score at 0-0.

George Neil scored our final goal in that game and I don’t think I’ve given him enough love in this story. He’s Berwick and Scotland’s all-time highest goalscorer and is still only 27.

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With first place confirmed a rotated side was put out against Sparta Prague in our final Champions League group game.

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In that game 16 year old Lee Murray scored his second goal of the season breaking another record as he became the youngest ever scorer in the Champions League.

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As mentioned earlier George Neil is Scotland’s all-time top scorer and will be spearheading his nation into the 2030 World Cup. I honestly think Murray, who will be 17 when the tournament starts, is in with a chance of being named in Scotland’s squad.

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That’s even with Scotland being 10th​ in the world rankings… ahead of Brazil somehow!

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The emphatic result against Sparta Prague meant that we won all 6 of our group stage games.

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We were therefore seeded in the draw for the last 16 but that didn’t stop us from getting one of the toughest opponents possible.

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Champions League 1st​ Knockout Round - Chelsea V Berwick

We’ll play Premier League leaders Chelsea in our first knockout Champions League games and it’ll be a huge upset if we beat them. They have 12 players on more than £200,000 a week!

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Hibs and Celtic are the only other Scottish teams left in Europe, both are in the Europa League 1st​ Knockout Round.

Domestically it’s business as usual and we’ve won 10 games in a row in all competitions.

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In fact we’re near the end of December and have only failed to win in one game all season. As incredible as that is, I’d swap an unbeaten season for victory over Chelsea in a heartbeat.
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Afonso Sousa for Chelsea, I have just signed on a free in 2022 for Breidablik in Iceland on £1k a week ha! Feel like I might have a player on my hands!
 
Scott Scott Throwback

For the second season in a row a Berwick player has been crowned European Golden Boy. This time it was our striker Hector De Anda.

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Unlike Robert Koeman, who won the award last year, I somehow don’t think De Anda will be sent on loan next season.

In the 4th​ round of the Scottish Cup we were drawn against Annan. We played them 3 years ago in the cup but other than that the last time we faced them was in 2018 when a certain Scott Scott scored for us.

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Scott Scott the Scot is now a back up option at League One Inverness who were ironically the team who nabbed him from us for free more than 10 years ago.

The game against Annan resulted in the most one sided 3-0 in the history of football.

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Dunfermline, the team at the foot of the Premiership table, awaited us in the next round. They too were comfortably dispatched.

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We’ll play either St Johnstone or Dundee in the quarter final as we seek to win the Scottish Cup for the first time.

And spare a thought for League One Forfar. I thought we were the kings of the bottle job but being 2-0 up against Premiership Aberdeen after 90 minutes and drawing is impressive even by our standards.

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However in reality those cup games were just distractions from our next game against Chelsea in the Champions League First Knockout Round. How has preparation been for probably the biggest game/s in Berwick’s history I hear you ask?

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It’s the middle of February. We’ve failed to win in only ONE match in all competitions this season.

Our best striker Vebjorn Aure is in stupid form (and by stupid I mean 9 goals in his last 2 games stupid). This is his 4th​ season at the club after we bought him for £10m from Stromsgodset.

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Normally as soon as I see a club wants a player I offer them a new contract but I’m unable to offer Aure more than the 47.5k a week that he’s already on so he might be hard to keep in the summer.

Part of the reason for his goal glut is because I’m still using the 4-3-1-2 against teams from Scotland, as it seems stupid to play 4-3-3 (i.e. a loan striker) against teams that set out to get a 0-0 draw against us.

However for the Chelsea game I’ll revert back to the 4-3-3, matching the formation my scouts believe Chelsea will line up with.

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We’ve gone 13 without conceding, have won 21 in a row and are unbeaten in 50 games.

The stage is perfectly set for Chelsea 5-0 Berwick…
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Chelsea 1st Leg

I honestly think we got the toughest draw possible for the First Knockout Round of the Champions League. Pep Guardiola’s Chelsea were 6 points clear at the top of the Premier League going into the first leg.

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And as far as losses go then 3-2 is probably the best loss we could’ve hoped for. However in all honesty we were extremely lucky to get the two goals.

We were very lackluster until we switched back to a 4-3-1-2 after going 3-0 down and only one player averaged above 7.0.

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But the two away goals could be priceless and we can still overcome them in the second leg. We just need to play a lot better.

In the meantime attention turned to maintaining our winning streak in domestic football.

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By beating St Johnstone we reached the semi finals of the Scottish Cup for the first time in 4 years!

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We’ll play Celtic, who’ve won the cup in each of the last 4 seasons, in the semi final at Hampden.

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Next up is the second leg against Chelsea. After being 3-0 down to them after 60 mins in the first leg can we do a Berwickstanbul and completely turn it around?
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