(FM22) - Achieving Everything - Leicester City

[LutterworthFox]

2024/25 Season - December and January

The end of January is here and the Winter window has slammed shut. I won't lie, the signing I made was an absolute worldie, firstly though let's take a look at who's left.

We say goodbye to one of my favourite players so far in this save, Dennis Praet was refusing to sign a new deal and wanted to move on. £20m is a snip on what I expected to get but it's better than nothing. Brennan Johnson also leaves for a whopping £30m, he never really got going here so I let him go. Youngster Lovett and Sousa also leave, Sousa for a ridiculous fee!

Now for the in's.....

Geronimo Marco comes in from Boca Juniors for £6.5m, the central defender is highly rated and already looks really good, part of the deal was for him to go back to Boca on loan for the rest of the season

Now for the biggie!! Oh I'm excited!

In comes Martin Odegaard!!! I tried to get him in the Summer, the deal was for £50m but I didn't have the funds to complete it. Once I lost Praet I went back in for him and got him for £37.5m!!!! What a deal, what a player!!

Transfer business done, lets now see how the results have gone.

Overall not bad, very little red in those results and actually our only 2 defeats were both against Liverpool in the League Cup, the first leg was the moment I decided that Praet could go, he got sent off for a reckless challenge in the first half and then we conceded twice. The away leg we went for it but they picked us off to win the game 4-2 and the tie 6-2 on aggregate.

In the League it's still going well, we've had a couple of dodgy draws but over the month and a half we have played 10 games, won 6, drew 3 and lost 1. Really not bad but as you can see, the second we play one of the big boys we seem to struggle.

So 25 games in and we're 2nd, only 2 behind Liverpool but we also have Arsenal breathing down our neck. This is going to be a tight end to the season!

 

[LutterworthFox]

2024/25 Season - February and March

A very quick update to let you all know how things are going. But first, the annual youth intake has happened and it was absolute rubbish! If anyone has any tips on how to make them better then please let me know!

This lad was the best of a very bad lot!

Yeah not great!

Back on the pitch and my word we have turned a corner!!!

I won't lie February was really frustrating, a home defeat to Brentford started the month and all in all our league form was a disaster, 3 games, 1 points, really poor. The only highlight was our progression in the FA Cup.

The came March and my word we were utterly amazing. I didn't really do much bar have a team meeting, well it worked a treat! We progressed in the Champions League after a 2-1 home win over Leipzig, we have Real Madrid in the Quarters.

We're also into the Semi's of the FA Cup after a brilliant win over Liverpool and then an utter demolition of Arsenal in the Quarters! We were incredible!

And the league form has also turned the corner with 2 wins from 2, defensively though we have been very leaky. But who cares as long as we score more than the other team!!!

Still in 2nd but as you can see our poor February form means we are now 8 behind Liverpool but we do have a game in hand. 8 games to go and it looks a tough run-in.

That Liverpool game at the start of May could be huge.

 

[LutterworthFox]

2024/25 Season - Champions League Quarter Final v Real Madrid

A massive tie and one I did not expect to win.

After the 1st leg it looked to be all over.

We went to the Bernabau and went for it, unfortunately though it was the Valverde show as he grabbed a hat-trick in a 3-1 win. On the back foot now with the home leg to come.

In what turned out to be one **** of a game!!!!

We took the lead early as Nmecha nodded in from a Barnes cross, Maddison then made it 2-0 just before half time and then the comeback was complete as Adeyemi scored to make it 3-0 on the night and 4-3 on aggregate.

But just as we started to think we had it sealed, Real kicked off and scored within minutes Camavinga breaking clear of the defence to level the tie on aggregate.

It didn't take long though for us to retake the lead as Adeyemi scored his second of the tie, 5-4!!!

Now all we had to do was hang on, Real has their chances but Ramsdale made some brilliant saves, the whistle blew, we had done it!!!

Into the semi final of the Champions League for for the first time in the clubs history where we will once again face Spanish opposition in Barcelona!

 

[LutterworthFox]

2024/25 Season - Champions League Semi Final v Barcelona + Domestic Update

First leg at home, we are severe underdogs, they have Greizmann, Depay, Pedri, Gavi, John Stones and many more. Once again though we were clinical and although the game was even chance wise we absolutely demolished them!

A 3-0 win, goals courtesy of Nmecha, Adeyemi and Maddison, what a win and one big foot in the Champions League final!

We head to the Nou Camp knowing we just need to keep it tight and see the 90 minutes out, Barca start on the front foot but we managed to hold out the early storm, that is until Depay breaks through our defence to put them 1-0 up. But as ever we hit back straight the way, a nice passing move find Maddison on the edge of penalty area, he places his shot into the corner of the net to level the game and put us 3 goals up once more.

We sat back and defended for our lives, I won't lie Barca missed some serious chances and when Conor Gallagher was sent off with 11 minutes to go I was slightly worried but as the game wore on there was only one winner and that was us!

INTO THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL!!!!

Where we face the toughest test possible.

Bayern Munich stand in our way, a squad that contains Mbappe, Haaland and many more!

Now to the domestic scene and we are also into the FA Cup Final!

We faced Aston Villa in the semi's and it was a tight game, it took until midway through the second half for a goal to be scored, Adeyemi as ever grabbing the opening goal, Yusuf Demir then doubled our lead with 10 mins to go, Villa did grab a late goal back but we went through 2-1.

And we we will face West Ham in the final, a huge chance to grab another piece of silverware.

Now to the league and as you would expect it's taken a backseat. We had 8 games left when I last updated you and we sat 8 behind Liverpool, top 4 was pretty much odds on and after a couple of early April wins it was clear we would end in the top 4 but would not win the league. Players were rested for the Champions League and results were affected.

2 brilliant wins over Chelsea and Man U but once I decided to rest players we then lost to Southampton and were smashed by Liverpool.

3 games to go and top 4 is guaranteed, I'm not sure why it doesn't say we are in the Champions League next season. We now can't catch Liverpool at the top but do still have the chance of leapfrogging Man City in 2nd.

 

[Masons_14]

Been a very quick rise sup to European elite, where do you feel is next to upgrade/progress the team or is it reliant on player sales?

 

[LutterworthFox]

Been a very quick rise sup to European elite, where do you feel is next to upgrade/progress the team or is it reliant on player sales?

What I really want to do now is look at bringing through some intake players, unfortunately though there is just not enough quality. So I need to start looking at how I can improve the intakes that are coming through.

Next season I aim to bring some of the youth players through, the likes of Sammy Braybrooke who is smashing it at Sunderland on loan deserves a chance.

Other than that the plan is to try and keep hold of my key men but also sell on the odd players for a big profit to try and settle the bank balance out.

 

[Masons_14]

What I really want to do now is look at bringing through some intake players, unfortunately though there is just not enough quality. So I need to start looking at how I can improve the intakes that are coming through.

Next season I aim to bring some of the youth players through, the likes of Sammy Braybrooke who is smashing it at Sunderland on loan deserves a chance.

Other than that the plan is to try and keep hold of my key men but also sell on the odd players for a big profit to try and settle the bank balance out.

Yeah, bringing up youth players is probably the next big step.
Getting better quality youth intakes is something I’ve not managed to quite master yet despite playing with a heavy focus on youth development as I’m not the best at terms of scouting.

 

[Masons_14]

Yeah, bringing up youth players is probably the next big step.
Getting better quality youth intakes is something I’ve not managed to quite master yet despite playing with a heavy focus on youth development as I’m not the best at terms of scouting.

The youth intake quality is probably also one of the biggest problems when you’ve made a lot of progress in terms of top 3 teams in the league and also the performances in Europe.

 

[Tongey]

Adeyimi proving to be an absolute powerhouse upfront!

Like @Masons_14 said, it's been a quick rise to be amognst the elites, so youth recruitment is gong to be huge going forward!

 

[LutterworthFox]

2024/25 Season - Premier League & FA Cup Final

The first of 2 huge finals are coming up, the Champions League will come in the next update but in this I'll go through the FA Cup final, but first let's see how the Premier League ended.

A decent final 3 games, the Burnley game I rested numerous key men after the came back from Barca tired, overall though 7 points from the final 3 games but was it enough to claim 2nd?

It was! Man City drew their final game at home to Newcastle meaning our win over Spurs was enough to leapfrog them and claim 2nd on goal difference!

So a great season, it would've been brilliant to win another league title but after 4 seasons to end 2nd is a great achievement and to win it back to back is very rarely seen.

Now to the FA Cup final! West Ham stand between us and another achievement ticked off!

The big news was we have a fully fit squad to choose from, the main decision was did I play Esposito or Gallagher in central midfield, I went with the former. Adeyemi also has been playing amazing on the RW with Belotti upfront so Nmecha missed out.

The first half was an absolute disgrace, there was literally no highlights whatsoever, really poor from both sides.

In the second half however it exploded into life.

50 mins in and the first major chance, a poor clearance from Ramsdale was won in midfield by West Ham, a lovely throughball found Vlasic who slotted home put the Hammers 1-0 up.

We now had to go for it and minutes later we had our first chance. Barnes found himself clear of the defence but his places shot hit the post and was cleared for a corner. The corner came in, it was cleared to the edge of the box and Gallagher leathered it into the top corner to level the tie!!

But once again West Ham retook the league, only 8 minutes after our leveller, they broke down the right, the cross came in, Fornals met it, it bounced off Ramsdale and Vlasic was their to tap it in. 2-1 to West Ham

After that the game fizzled out, we couldn't find a breakthrough and didn't have one decent chance. The whistle blew, we had lost! Gutting

One cup final down, a defeat but the biggest one of yet to come! COME ON!

 

[LutterworthFox]

2024/25 Season - Champions League Final v Bayern Munich

Here we go, the biggest night in the history of Leicester City, the Champions League final where we face the might that is Bayern Munich with Haaland and Mbappe up front, after the FA Cup final defeat I am not hopeful but surely I should just be happy to be here?

**** NO! We want to win this thing!!!!

After the 4231 failing last game I decided to go back to the tried and trusted 41221, a bit more reserved in formation but just as attacking.

2 changes from the FA Cup final defeat. Gallagher is suspended and is replaced by Esposito. Belotti drops to the bench with Nmecha coming in at RW, Adeyemi moves up top.

6 mins - The perfect start, Maddison has the ball, the plays a glorious ball to Nmcecha who drills it in the right corner of the goal. 1-0 TO LEICESTER!!!

20 mins - Haaland misses a sitter!! A ball in from Mbappe, Haaland meets it on the volley at the near post but it goes way over.

24 mins - Bayern are really piling on the pressure and this time they break through. Haaland crossing it to Mbappe who smashes it on the volley. 1-1

28 mins - HOW HAVE WE NOT SCORED! Esposito crosses it and it's met by Nmecha on the line but it hits the bar and falls into Neuer's hands!

37 mins - OH MY WORD! Leicester retake the lead against the run of play. Thomas throws it to Barnes who swings the ball in and Adeyemi is there to nod it in! 2-1 TO LEICESTER!!!

And that's half time, we're 45 mins away from greatness!!

47 mins - IT'S 3-1!!!!!!!! A scramble in the box falls to Adeyemi who scored to pus us 2 goals ahead!!!! NOW DEFEND!!!!!!

55 mins - Adeyemi should seal it, he's through on goal but his shot is tipped wide by Neuer!

62 mins - DISASTER FOR RAMSDALE!! A rubbish cross by Davies is palmed out by Ramsdale straight into Haaland and it goes in! 3-2!

65 mins - We have well and truly fallen apart but this one is a belter! A corner is cleared, it falls to Pino who gloriously curls a shot into the top corner! From 3-1 to 3-3 in 3 minutes. Gutting!

67 mins - OH NO! ON F*CKING NO!!!! Pino runs down the right, he takes Thomas on who slides in and brings Pino down, it's a penalty to Bayern.

68 mins - Haaland steps up......and beats Ramsdale, what a capitulation, 3-1 on 62 mins, 3-4 on 68. Devastating.

78 mins - We are really trying but cannot break through. An Odegaard corner is swung in, Solet heads it well over.

3 minutes of injury time, all out attack but nothing is happening.

And that's full time. There are no words for what I've just witnessed.

I am so gutted I cannot even bring myself to go through the end of season awards and stats. Give me time, we will come back stronger

 

[LutterworthFox]

2025/26 Season - Transfers & August Games

Well here we are, I have dusted myself down after the disappointment of last season and there have been a lot of transfers! I really felt I needed to make some changes and I've done exactly that, some big players leave, some massive players join!

Firstly the out's

Carnage!!!! I have ripped apart my team but I do feel what's coming in is better. Off go Castagne, Barnes, Nmecha, Carboni, Fagioli and Webster from the first team! £246m made as well!

Now for the in's, get excited......get VERY excited!

Mariano Roca - Winger/Striker - £7m from Independiente

One for the future here, he will be in the first team but will have to settle for playing in cup games.

Andrea Papetti - Central Defender - £40m from Juventus

With Carboni and Webster leaving I needed a new CB and this lad fits the bill, top quality and will be vying for a starting spot against Fofana and Solet.

Yaser Asprilla - Winger - £45m from Stuttgart

What a player! A new Winger was needed after selling Barnes and Nmecha. Only 21 and already looks amazing.

Vitinha - Central Midfield - £42m from Porto

The midfield needed strengthening after losing Fagioli and there was talk of both Gallagher and Esposito leaving, neither did so not our midfield is stacked!

Joe Bursik - Goalkeeper - £5.5m from Real Salt Lake

Schmeichel's time at the club looks to be up, he asked to leave but no one wanted him, Bursik was signed as his replacement and will be the No. 2 keeper behind Ramsdale

Benjamin Sesko - Striker - £36.5m from Salzburg

Everyone knows this lad, he is incredible on FM. With Belotti my only mainline striker I needed a new one and this lad will walk into my first team. Obviously we have Adeyemi as well but he will play on the RW.

And now for the big one, this one I did not expect to happen, I saw on my news feed that Man City were in for this player so I put a cheeky bid in, never ever did I expect him to choose us over City!!

Please welcome....

Lionel Messi - Winger - £11.25m from PSG

I HAVE SIGNED MESSI!!!! Ok, he's 38 but my word he is still amazing and will be an amazing player to have around, mentoring the likes of Demir, Apsrilla and Popov. I literally cannot believe I've pulled this one off, where will he play though?!!!??!

So an utterly incredible window, I did feel I needed to do something mad to get over last season, well I felt I did that and more!!!

We had 3 league games to play in August and to say it went well would be an understatement!

3 games, 3 wins, none conceded and 12 scored! We also beat last seasons Champs Liverpool!! An amazing start!

Finally, the Champions League draw and personally I feel it's as easy as it could be!

We really should be topping that group!

 

[Tongey]

LIONEL F*****G MESSI!! Go on Fox!!!

 

[LutterworthFox]

2025/26 Season - September to December

Apologies for the delay in updates, I revisited my original blog save and it's taken up a bit of my time.

But eventually I've reached the end of December and my word it's going well!

Just look at that sea of green! An amazing few months in charge but tainted with that Boxing Day defeat to Southampton, our first defeat of the season in all competitions.

What that defeat means is we now sit in 2nd, 6 points behind Liverpool who are storming clear at the top.

Really frustrating as bar one game we really haven't put a foot wrong.

In the Champions league it's going just as good. 6 wins out of 6 is amazing especially as I gave the reserves a chance in most games.

A total domination of the group, 100% and a goal difference of +20!

In the next round we will face Athletico Madrid, so a tough game but we have home advantage in the second leg.

In the League Cup, we were handed a tough run of games but Spurs, Brentford and Newcastle have been dispatched and we are now into the semi final where we will face Championship side Swansea. All the big boys are out as well with Everton facing Aston Villa in the other semi.

Finally, I have ticked off 2 more achievements. One I didn't notice until very recently.

That one is Kasper Schmeichel who has now made 118 appearances for Denmark, he gained his 100th cap in my second season in charge and that is an achievement.

The second one is much more impressive and that's the fact we broke the club record for wins in a row, it stood at 10, we managed 11 over the opening games of the season and a win in the Club World Cup 3rd placed playoff, a competition I didn't feel it worthwhile discussing as we didn't win and had hardly any players available!

So with those 2 ticked off I have now completed 15 of the 100 achievements I set myself, hopefully, if we continue this good run of form there could be a good few more ticked off before the season is out.

 

[LutterworthFox]

2025/26 Season - Winter Window Update

BIG NEWS!!!! And rather bad news at that! Adeyemi has gone!!!

Gutted to be honest, I should've got so much more for him. I've been trying to get rid of his £90m release clause all season but his wage demands were ridiculous. He is on £220k per week, he was asking for double that. He ends up leaving, a massive profit though from when I signed him for £14.25m. He ends with 96 league goals in 116 games, amazing! He will be missed but I have so many options up front with the likes of Messi, Sesko, Belotti and Demir that he won't be replaced in this window.

There was one more out and that was Midfielder Esposito, he leaves for £40m and joins Man United, another big profit as he only cost me £6.25m.

There were also a couple of in's and both of them with a look to the future.

Left Back Callum Williams joins for £10m from Benfica, young and English, this lad could be a star, I am really short at Left Back which prompted the signing, I just didn't want to spend loads of money on a first choice starter as Luke Thomas is my main man.

Defensive Midfielder Nicolas Martz joins for £2.6m from Monaco. When I saw how low his release clause was I had to snap him up, I mean he's already worth 10x what I paid for him! One for the future, he will be in the first team but I may look at loaning him out at some point.

The final piece of news is eventually we have a stadium expansion.

Another 7k seats taking us up to 40k. This should be a huge help with regard to gate receipts.

 

[LutterworthFox]

2025/26 Season - League Cup Final v Aston Villa

After 2 cup final defeats last season I was determined more than ever that we wouldn't have the same result this time around, 3rd time lucky?

Too right!!! A dominant display to claim my first domestic cup win in the save! Another achievement as well so that's 17 now ticked off.

 

[LutterworthFox]

2025/26 Season - Youth Intake and Result Update

The Youth Intake is here and I have a half decent player to talk about and also from an obscure nation!

Actually there's 2 players that have taken the eye. Makes a change as so far the intakes have been a bit meh.

Brend Koonenberg is the second best player in the intake, a small Striker but overall he has some really good attributes for a 15 year old. He could be a future star with some mentoring and improvement in his physicals.

Now for the big ones and that's Lin Cheng-Yi from Chinese Tapei. He looks really really good, OK his mentals need some improvement but those technical attributes for 15 is amazing, a future star? Could he be the one to get me 50 international caps? Sensational!

Finally a quick update on results and it's good really well still.

The first thing to say is that every single home game has been a 40k sell out! Great to see.

We've only had one defeat over the final 2 and a half months and that was an FA Cup 3rd Round replay defeat to Chelsea, talk about a tough draw. We threw away a 2 goal lead in the original tie before playing terribly to lose 1-0 in the reply.

Athletico Madrid have been dispatched in the Champions League, 2 epic ties where we won 3-2 away and then 4-2 at home. It's nice to still see the goals flying in even without Adeyemi.

Now to the League and it's still going well but there have been a few draws which have stalled our advance on Liverpool. Overall though we've played 10 games with 7 wins and 3 draws. Really good and we still only have that solitary defeat overall.

10 games to go and 4 points behind Liverpool, I really can't see them slipping up and we have some tough games ahead.

That 3 game run of Man City, Arsenal and Man United is going to decide if we are going to challenge Liverpool. 2nd place looks as good as wrapped up though, another solid campaign. A League Cup win, challenging in the league and a good run in the Champions League. Really pleasing.

 

[Sam91]

Gutted to see you lose Adeyemi but excited to see how you get on without him at the same time!!

 

[LutterworthFox]

2025/26 Season - Champions Leaguer Quarter Final v Barcelona

Here we go, after dispatching Atletico Madrid in the Last 16 we now face Spanish giants Barca in the Quarters. When the draw came out I was confident we could win the tie but after the first leg, which was at home, we looked to be struggling.

A 2-2 draw, we were leading right until the end but Ferran Torres nabbed a goal with 3 minutes remaining. We go to the Nou Camp knowing we have to win the match.

Half time and it was 1-1 but Barca has missed a penalty, the big news was Luke Thomas went off with a major injury (he is out for 3 months), then just after the second half started disaster as Solet was sent off for a shocking tackle sending us down to 10 men.

We had to hang on somehow and we did so right until extra time. Barca were all over us and eventually our defences were breached when Torres scored midway through the first half of extra time. There was no way back, we were out, gutting!

 

[LutterworthFox]

2025/26 Season - End of Season Review

The season is over, my 5th at Leicester and it ends with just one trophy win and that's the League Cup. Disappointed overall really, we only managed the Quarters of the Champions League and the 3rd Round of the FA Cup which is a massive backtrack from last seasons two finals.

The League campaign though was much better than last season but unfortunately we ended way way behind Liverpool at the top of the table.

2 points better off than last season as we ends in 2nd again. 15 points behind Liverpool though, they smashed it!

Our end of season form was really poor as well, too many dropped points overall.

We only lost 4 games all season and 3 of those were in the final 10 games. A massive dropoff.

Overall though I have to be happy, a League Cup win, a decent league campaign and another season of Champions League football next time around.

Two other pieces of news are Aaron Ramsdale ended with the most clean sheet in the Premier League this season, 21 overall, not bad seeing as he only played 34 league games. We also only conceded 21 goals in the League all season which is a Club record. Both of those are achievements and are now ticked off, 20 down!

The big news is there may well be a takeover of the club coming, this is actually the 4th time in the past 12 months this has happened but this takeover could be very very exciting.

A huge tycoon takeover, just look how much money they are saying the deal is worth! That is huge!

Even without the takeover the board have given me huge budgets for next season, the issue is we are now under a transfer embargo meaning I can't do any deals. Let's hope this gets wrapped up quick.

£154m! That is mad! It does help seeing as we made over £140m profit on transfers this season. The balance only sits at £116m though so not way will I be spending all this, if and when I can!

Finally, I just want to talk about a couple of the players who took the eye this season.

Firstly is Left Back Luke Thomas, he is now the clubs new captain, he is now an England regular and is performing so well. He ends as the clubs player of the season.

Benjamin Sesko ends as the clubs top goalscorer for the season, he started off on the bench but has really kicked on in the past few months and has taken over from Adeyemi as the main man in front of goal. He also ends as the Premier League Players' Young Player of the Season

Wesley Fofana was one of two players who ended in the Premier League Team of the Season. He is such a solid player who consistently performs. He is improving massively as well.

The other player to end in the Team of the Season was Lionel Messi! What a signing this was, 38 and still performing at the top of his game. He ends with the most assists at the club this seasons and was stunning playing as a F9 with Sesko as a CF.

Another season down, a great one but we have to start winning more trophies, it will be interesting to see if the tycoon takeover happens and if so what money I will get to spend. Personally I've enjoyed this season more than any other, mainly because I went a bit mad with transfers but also I've had the chance to blood some of the youth players. The likes of Ben Nelson, Chris Popov, Sammy Braybrooke and a few others have had a few games to prove they can be starters in the future. I don't think any of them have let me down.

So even though we might be in for a windfall I'm dubious as to whether I'll go loopy on transfers, I'd love to bring through some of the academy players.