Berwick Rangers: An English Club in Scotland

CL FINAL TIME! Might have just ****** myself a little in excitement, good luck man!
 
I'll put my suit on tomorrow night for you as well!
 
2031 Champions League Final

It’s time. The 2031 Champions League Final between Berwick Rangers and Manchester City.


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Man City lined up with a 4-4-1-1 formation whereas we went with a 4-3-3.

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And it didn’t start great.

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We gifted Man City the easiest goal in existence, allowing Luis Angel Valencia to run the length of the pitch and put in a simple cross to Fabian Fiezzi who’s not a bad back up striker to have.

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Then we had our typical ‘Berwick player doing something stupid in a crucial game’ moment.

Here’s Alejandro Alaniz attempting a back pass.

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And here’s the result of that

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In fairness City probably deserved to be leading, but not 2-0. We had created very little and the second goal spurred some tactical and personnel changes.

Firstly we went with 3 strikers, rather than 2 inside forwards and a striker.

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We also brought on Scottish duo George Neil and Kyle Campbell (who replaced Alaniz at right back).

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And it was surprisingly Campbell who made an impact.

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It was his cross that set up the main man Hector de Anda to give us some hope of pulling off an amazing comeback.

Then it happened.

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Hector de Anda, after 89 minutes, was 1 on 1 with the keeper. The stage was set.

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Yes...

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...No...

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...Nooooooooo!

My heart sank when the ball trickled past the post. Why Hector? Why?

And that, I’m afraid, was our chance.

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We beat Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Arsenal but failed at the last hurdle to Manchester City.

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We only really applied any pressure when we were 2-0 down and switched to 3 strikers but to limit City to 3 shots on target and still lose is a bitter pill to swallow.

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What’s that? I’m not crying…. It’s hay fever!
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Ah man I can't believe it! However on the plus side I'm pretty sure this whole ordeal has reignited your passion for this story
 
ChrisDCFC said:
Gutted for you mate
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Couldn't believe it! Well actually the more I think about it the more I could believe it... it had to be a mistake that gave them a win! But hopefully the experience helps us in our next Champions League final whenever that may be.

TheNotSoSpecialOne said:
Ah man I can't believe it! However on the plus side I'm pretty sure this whole ordeal has reignited your passion for this story
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You might be right...
 
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What happens now then?

I’m debating whether to continue the save for a number of reasons…

1) Firstly Scotland is too easy, so if we were not to win the treble it’d be annoying because we’re far too good to not do the treble.

2) There’s also the ongoing situation of the Scotland job not being available. At some point in the save I was hoping to takeover but Steve Clarke has been in charge for 11 years.

3) And there’s the big one… are we going to get so far in the Champions League again?

I’ve taken into consideration all these factors and made a decision.

The show must go on.

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I will win the Champions League with Berwick!


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I was going to say it doesn't matter and the Champions League is overrated anyway! But glad to see your sticking around until you win it!
 
You put too many hours to throw the towel in now.

I had a Millwall save a few years back and finally got into the Champs league final after about 12 season (after being screwed over a good few times).

Playing Real at Wembley (practically home turf ;)). Winning 2-0 up until the 88th minute when an old old Ronaldo comes off the bench to score hat-trick as it ends 3-2 in normal time.

I never continued the game after that, wasting a good week's worth of continuous play. Missed being jobless, wifeless and kidless XD
 
Just caught up, Im not going to lie, I am gutted for you!! Pleased you are carrying on though!
 
So gutted for you!!!!

Love how you put up screenshots of your starting XI - Colombia always seem to get amazing regens.
 
neavie pops23 said:
I was going to say it doesn't matter and the Champions League is overrated anyway! But glad to see your sticking around until you win it!
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scousegin said:
You put too many hours to throw the towel in now.

I had a Millwall save a few years back and finally got into the Champs league final after about 12 season (after being screwed over a good few times).

Playing Real at Wembley (practically home turf ;)). Winning 2-0 up until the 88th minute when an old old Ronaldo comes off the bench to score hat-trick as it ends 3-2 in normal time.

I never continued the game after that, wasting a good week's worth of continuous play. Missed being jobless, wifeless and kidless XD
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TurboCarrilero said:
Cracking story mate. Glad you've decided to continue it!
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JamesScott2908 said:
Just caught up, Im not going to lie, I am gutted for you!! Pleased you are carrying on though!
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KLIPPYBO said:
So gutted for you!!!!

Love how you put up screenshots of your starting XI - Colombia always seem to get amazing regens.
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Cheers for the support everyone, I'm glad some people sympathise with me!

After coming so far there's no way I could've left it like that. I was having doubts about the save as it seemed like we'd never get further than the 1st Knockout Round but that season showed that we have what it takes to take on the elite clubs in Europe... is just a case of us doing it all over again this season!
 
2030/31 Season Review

Our most successful season to date was completely overshadowed by the heartbreak of losing in the Champions League final. I still feel a bit sick from losing it to be honest…

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Aside from us winning it for the fifth year in a row, in the SPL Rangers toppled Celtic for the first time in the save whereas Hamilton finished 5th​ and will play European football next season for what I think is the first time.

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Another first for the save was that a non-English club won the Europa League with RB Leipzig beating Liverpool.

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The other Scottish clubs failed to make a meaningful impact in Europe. I’m hoping that one will be able to get to the latter stages of the Europa League soon.

Dundee - Europa League 4th​ Qualifying Round
Hearts – 4th​ in Europa League Group Stage
Hibs – Europa League 2nd​ Knockout Round
Celtic – 3rd​ in Champions League Group Stage, Knocked out in Europa League 1st​ Knockout Round

Here are the squad stats from the season

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Hector De Anda was undoubtedly player of the season and broke Lionel Messi’s assist record in the Champions League.

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The finances are looking good but we’ve only been given £11m to spend in the summer because the board announce the budgets when we confirm Champions League qualification.... which normally happens with half of the season still to play!

I can confirm now that we will be spending more than £11m. A lot more.

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The upcoming summer transfer window is all about keeping our best players and buying one or two star players, if we can, to give our team that extra bit of quality that may see us get over the line in the Champions League.
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Hampus Silverholt said:
The upcoming summer transfer window is all about keeping our best players and buying one or two star players, if we can, to give our team that extra bit of quality that may see us get over the line in the Champions League.
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It will be interesting to see whether players will want to come after your success in the Champions League or if the SPL will still hold you back.
 
TurboCarrilero said:
It will be interesting to see whether players will want to come after your success in the Champions League or if the SPL will still hold you back.
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To be honest I don't think it's a question of whether we can attract the better players because we have a 4 star reputation (the same as teams like Roma, Athletic Bilbao, Ajax and Napoli) we just cannot afford to pay the wages that other clubs do.

Our highest paid player is on £55,000 but you've got English teams spending £200,000+ a week on players that are willing to join us until it gets to negotiating wages. We just cannot compete financially with them!

But having said all that I've still managed to make a really good signing...
 
2031/32 Season Preview

This is our 15th​ season in charge of Berwick and so far every season we’ve improved on our performance in Europe. The only way to keep up that trend this season would be to win the Champions League. No biggie then.

Firstly our run in the Champions League last season means that Scotland will have 6 clubs in Europe next season!

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The same thing was supposed to have happened 4 or 5 seasons ago but didn’t so I thought there was some kind of glitch that meant only 5 clubs from the SPL could go into Europe so we’ll see what happens.


As for transfers once again I’ve attempted to offload players who are not good enough for Berwick but are more than good enough for other Scottish teams for a very cheap price. No less than 13 players went to other Scottish clubs for a dirt-cheap fee this transfer window. 8 are key players and 4 are first team players.

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Dundee United and Hamilton have profited most from my generosity. Dundee United are actually in the Championship and picked up striker Mark Abrahams for free from us. If he doesn’t tear the Championship apart I’ll be very surprised.

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It’s players like Abrahams that I’ve offloaded to other teams in Scotland. Not good enough for us but more than capable for their new teams.

Elsewhere John Cook, who was the first genuine Premiership quality player to come through the Berwick academy, has gone to Celtic.

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But enough about the boring transfers. We’ve broken our transfer record in this window… twice!

Pavle Zoric has joined Chelsea for £9m

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Firstly midfielder Pavle Zoric has joined Chelsea. It’s sad to see him go as he’s been at the club for 5 seasons but he was in the last year of his contract and would’ve been back up.

Piero Artega has joined Arsenal for £39m

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The perpetually injured Piero Artega was our back up inside forward and was not comfortable playing in big games. So when I managed to get Arsenal to cough up £39m I had to take it.

It’s also a record fee for Scottish football.

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It’s strange how I can get nearly £40m for him but for my world class players clubs were coming in with bids of around £15m.

We also received £5m after Javier Chanduvi moved from Leicester to West Ham for £21m. We sold him to Leicester for £20m 5 years ago.

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Transfers In

Juan Carlos has joined Berwick for £27m from Saint-Etienne

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With the Artega money we brought in Spanish striker Juan Carlos and he doesn’t look too bad. I’m also seriously considering training him as an inside forward so he is guaranteed a spot in our strongest XI.

Rayane Ludwig has joined Berwick for £27m rising to £37m from Anderlecht

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Our highest ever fee for the second time this transfer window was forked out on Rayane Ludwig. He is essentially a replacement for Zoric but he is surely going to be world class.

Overall I think we have a good balance to the squad. Our once wonderkid players have now reached their potential, have World Cup and Champions League experience and most importantly have stayed at Berwick.

Despite that, the board still expects us to only get to the first knockout round in the Champions League.

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Hopefully we get further than that! Our Champions League group opponents will be revealed in the next post.
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Champions League Group Stage Opponents

Our season has started off in similar fashion with us top of the league and winning games comfortably.

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Our dominance over Scottish teams was typified by us beating Dundee 6-0 twice in the space of 4 days. Yet despite that Celtic came close to beating us at Celtic Park.

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I’m not too fussed about an unbeaten season but there’s always a chance it could happen. We’ve lost 4 league games in the past 3 seasons combined!

The Group Stage draw for the 2031/32 Champions League has also been made.

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Champions League Group A 2031
Berwick Rangers
Club Atlético de Madrid,
VfL Wolfsburg
Feyenoord Rotterdam

I’m happy with the draw as firstly we’ve never played any of the three teams before and secondly it’s a group that we should comfortably be winning.

Elsewhere Rangers, Celtic and Hibs are all in the Europa League group stage so I’m hoping one of them goes far in the competition this season.

Next up is Feyenoord away in what is supposedly the weakest team of the group. We shall see how true that is!
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