Football's Coming Home - Burnley F.C.

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England decided to move away from an English National Manager, bringing in Albert Roca as a replacement. From being a fitness coach at Barcelona he taken Brighton to the verge of continental football before his new appointment.

We thrashed our newly promoted & local rivals Blackburn away from home.

Before we kick started our Champions League campaign with a victory over Atalanta at Turf Moor. We had the better chances but the only goal of the game came courtesy of their keeper slicing a backpass. It was a Sunday League style goal and one that would of had me fuming had it been the other way around - but we'll take it!

The added winning bonus is always a welcome reward alongside the 3 points.

Eze scored a last minute penalty to salvage us a point at Arsenal as our largely second string side managed to breeze past Bournemouth in the League Cup.

Eze has actually been in great form this season and over our last 3 League games has 5 assists and 2 goals to his name!

We then travelled to the Bernabeu for the rather inevitable thrashing. We put up very little resistance in truth and the scoreline could have been worse. I'm just hoping we can make a better game of it in the reverse fixture.

Just a single point followed in our next couple of Premier League games.

Whilst our in form Ebere Eze ended our 4 game winless run with a sublime freekick with virtually the last kick of the game to earn us a massive victory away to Sporting in the Champions League. If we can get a victory in the return leg then we may well qualify for the knockout stages with 2 games to spare!

We edged past Leeds to reach the League Cup Quarter-Finals and currently sit in 5th place in the League as we pass a quarter of the League's fixtures. Injury and fatigue is causing us some issues but are still doing well on all fronts at the moment.

 

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We went into our 4th Champions League Group game knowing that a victory would most likely be enough to see us through to the knockout stages (assuming Madrid didn't lose to Atalanta).

And that's exactly what happened! We thrashed Sporting at home and Madrid drew, meaning that we had already secured our place in the knockout stages with 2 games left to go in the Group! I really hadn't expected it to be anywhere near this easy first time around!

After a couple more PL games, including a decent draw against City it was time to host Real Madrid. Whilst qualification was assured a victory would put us in pole position to win the group.

We managed to push them pretty hard, but ultimately they had too much quality in front of goal for us. Considering we have a side that only contains 1 England International (3rd choice GK), we did pretty well I think.

It then hasnt been the best run of form for us as we just about got the 3 points against Fulham before slumping to back-to-back defeats in the League. The game against Atalanta was rather meaningless and gave me a chance to rest a few players as we played out a bore draw.

So that 2nd place finish means that we will now take on another giant of Spanish football, Barcelona. They have reached the quarter-finals the past 2 season and won La Liga twice in the past 3 years. So aren't doing too badly in the Football Manager version at least

We managed to rekindle our form and a victory over Leicester in the league Cup, means that we progress to the Semi-Finals where we will play Norwich. So another great opportunity to reach the final of the competition once again.

We then had to end the year with 3 games in 6 days, including matches against both Liverpool and Chelsea!

In all honesty I conceded defeat in our trip to Anfield, resting a number of key players for our home game against Chelsea and in truth the plan worked pretty flawlessly. I think we'd have struggled in both if I played a mixed side and the plan paid off once we got the 3 points against Chelsea.

We the had to come from behind to grind out a draw with Villa in the final game of the Year. A result that keeps us in 5th place in the League, narrowly ahead of West Ham and Leeds. I think Top 4 will be too much for us this season as the squad just isn't big enough to fully cope with the volume of games but am still feeling confident about a Top 7 and possibly even a domestic trophy to go alongside.

 

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We started the year in good form, recording a dominant victory over fellow Top 7 hopefuls, West Ham. I played a rotated side for our semi-final first leg tie against Norwich and a draw has left us with a little bit of work to do in the home leg.

I therefore played a near full strength side, which went on to thrash Norwich and set up a second League Cup final in 3 years. This time we'll be going up against Chelsea.

We then hit a bit of bad form, picking up just 2 points from 9 in the League. Liverpool continued to illustrate how far we still need to go to be challenging them at the top of the table.

Not long after that result I actually decided to bring in a Liverpool player in Harvey Elliott. We didn't have any money to complete a transfer and the Elliott loan deal offers a decent player for a very low fee. His development has been stifled at Liverpool as he's struggled for game time. I have a £49M optional future fee to make the signing permanent, but realistically this is far more than I'd be willing to pay.

That was our only bit of business in another very uneventful transfer window. Hopefully we'll have some decent funds to make summer Summer signings.

We are working with one of the smallest wage budgets in the League, which is still over double Blackburn's! I therefore cant say it's surprising to see them at the bottom of the table.

Our form did drastically improve as we went into February picking up 3 wins from 3 in the League and earning ourselves an FA Cup 4th Round replay with Chelsea.

The extra game really wasn't something I wanted this season and to make it even worse we went all the way through ET and to penalties. Fortunately we managed to come out on top but the 120 minutes was tough going in an already congested season for our small squad.

I therefore had to make a whole host of changes before the Leeds game and they certainly made the most of it. It was not a great game to be losing as they have now closed the gap on us in the League as we cling on to 5th spot and in range of the Top 4 still.

We now take a break from the Premier League and have 3 different competitions to take part in over the next week. That includes a home game against Barcelona and a League Cup final against Chelsea - A couple of exciting games on the horizon that's for sure.

 

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For the second time this season we hosted one of the Spanish giants, and despite creating the better chances in the game we some how came off second best, leaving us a mountain of a challenge for the second leg. Both Ings and Delap missed one-on-ones with the keeper, and is position we need to improve in the summer as we desperately need a 20+ goal a season striker.

Following our missed opportunity against Barcelona we headed down to Wembley to play Chelsea in our second final in 3 years and another shot at my maiden silverware. This season we've already played Chelsea 4 times following our FA Cup replay have had the better of the results just about.

I then got a little absorbed in the fixture and forgot to take in-game screenshots, but following another 120 minutes of football we ended up beating Chelsea in the shootout 15-14! It honestly felt like it was going to go on for ever but Pope saved Mazraoui's penalty the second time around.

After Jorginho equalised in the 92nd minute I thought it wasn't going to be our day but in the end we got the job done!

The result does also mean that we have guaranteed European football next season which was the main aim.

Following that epic League Cup final I had to make a whole string of changes for our FA Cup game against Norwich and they seemingly took advantage. We actually bossed the game and had the better chances but Tzolis was in inspired form bagging himself 4 goals!

The latest youth intake came in.... and it wasn't good for a change. So is very unlikely any of these will be making the first team.

Finley Burns scored in back to back games to earn us a very impressive victory over United and a point at Leicester.

We then travelled to the Camp Nou knowing we needed a bit of a miracle and unfortunately it wasn't to be, losing 2-0 on the night, and 3-0 on aggregate. Ter Stagen was man of the match in both games though which does show that things could have gone very differently had he not been between the sticks.

Despite a few weary legs we bounced back with a resounding win over relegation threatened Fulham to jump us above Chelsea and into 4th place.

We have just 7 games left to play in the season and not a bad run-in. How well we play against City and Arsenal is likely going to decide whether or not we can sneak into the Top 4 for a second successive season.

In other news one of out players finally won himself an England cap, as Conor Gallagher made his debut. Nick Pope is usually in the squad but doent think he has actually ever featured during this save so this is a bit of a landmark moment for us.

 

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We cruised through April, picking up maximum points before suffering a bit of a shock defeat at Saint Mary's. I never really expected us to get anything against City, but those dropped points have seen us slip out of the Top 4 making our next game against Arsenal a bit of a must win affair.

Unfortunately we had a terrible first half and really struggled to get going. We played much better in the second half and had chances to equalise but ultimately there goes our hopes of playing in the Champions League again next season.

We were now only battling with Wolves for 5th place going into the final day of the season and it looked like we were about to slip down into 6th until McNeil completed his hattrick and won us the game in the 94th minute! It wouldn't have made a huge amount of difference finishing 6th I don't believe, but even so.

Liverpool are also looking unstoppable - winning their 4th consecutive title in this save!

Confirmation that we will be entering the Europa League Group Stage and whilst we miss out on some money, we do have a better chance of going further in this competition.

Our Best XI is pretty much spot on with what I would have chosen. Perhaps Ings in for Delap but they were pretty interchangeable throughout the season.

The board have agreed to expand Turf Moor, adding an additional 5,636 seats, taking it to a total capacity of just over 28,000. Still not massive capacity, especially if Continental football is now going to be a regular occurrence.

The exciting news is that the board have finally given me a rather big war chest to work with over the summer and hopefully some big names to come!

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Contrary to last season it's been a rather active transfer window for us, breaking our club record transfer twice in the process!
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I've been craving a better right-back as Trippier is now 34 and following Brighton's relegation last season, Tariq Lamptey's relegation release clause became active. They wanted around £70M last season, so is a pretty good price in my eyes and by far the best option available to us and at an affordable price.

I then received a rather surprise offer from Palace for Harwood-Bellis, a player that we picked up on a free transfer last summer. I managed to squeeze £13M out of Palace and is a very good bit of business considering he was essentially just a back-up player.

With a gap to fill I then stumbled across Tyrone Mings being available for just £2.8M. He wont be a starter for us but is an experienced player to have in the squad and a solid squad player for the next few seasons at least.

Harvey Elliott proved to be a useful addition last season so we extended his loan deal for another season as his asking price was still far higher than I wanted to pay.

City bought Ivan Toney for £32.5M last summer and literally just had him playing in the reserves. He's a player that Ive had a lot of success with in previous saves and had been looking at signing him for a while. We've negotiated a loan deal for now but we do have the option to buy should he prove a success and hopefully become the 20+ goal striker I'm craving.

I did therefore decide to loan out Delap for the season as I want him playing regular football, so he has joined Norwich for the season. I may recall him in January should we need to, but hopefully this can aid his development.

Ross Barkley had a pretty poor season and dropped down the pecking order. Having touted him out Newcastle came in with the best offer of £10M and I decided to accept.

That meant that we could once again break our transfer record and bring in James Maddison. If i'm being honest the price is probably more than he is worth but as a Leicester fan in real life and not many better options available I decided to go for it anyway. I'm confident he can be our main attacking playmaker this season as we push for a Top 4 spot once again.

With my transfers seemingly done, Nick Pope picked up a pretty serious injury on the eve of the new season. I contemplated bringing in another goalkeeper but having scoured the market cant find a suitable option, so will be entrusting Alex McCarthy to do the job in his absence.

Ivan Toney got his Burnley career off to a flyer, scoring a hattrick on his debut against one of his former sides, Newcastle. It was nearly the perfect start to the season but for Trippier breaking his leg. He is primarily a back-up this season but is still going to be a big loss for us over the season.

The wins kept coming as we rounded off August and the transfer window as we keep pace with front runners Chelsea and Liverpool.

Our Europa League Group is looking rather easy on the whole. I'd be pretty disappointed if we aren't topping this group and avoiding that additional knockout game in the process.

So this is the squad I'm working with up until January at least. A pretty good balance on the whole I feel and a much stronger squad than last season so hopefully we can get ourselves back into the Champions League and possibly even another trophy along the way.

 

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We kicked off September with a couple of resounding victories. I made a number of changes between fixtures as we have a relatively easy Europa League Group and was good to see our strength in depth coming through.

We then suffered our first loss of the season, at the hands of City. It was quite a close game and we would have perhaps ground out the victory had Lamptey not been sent off with 13 minutes left to play.

Our League Cup retention bid failed at the first step as we lost out on penalties to Southampton. Again, we did try and rotate the side but am a little disappointed we didn't get the job done. However, it does now give us a chance to focus on other competitions that are much more important for us this season.

Despite the back-to-back losses we bounced back with a near flawless run of 7 games across both the Premiership and Europa League, dropping just the 2 points away to Villa. As a newly promoted side I had expected us to come away with the 3 points but either way it has been a successful run of games.

So as we pass the 10 game mark we are in the leading pack and have a 7 point buffer over 5th place. Still along way to go but it has been a very strong start to the season for us.

A 2-0 win away to CSKA-Sofia meant that we qualified in top spot with 2 games still left to play. It has all been pretty straight forward so far and will be interesting to see who we will eventually get in the last 16.

4 players received England call-ups which is by far the most we've had to date.

This first led to Dwight McNeil making his England debut after another really strong start to the season. He has consistently been our most reliable player since the start of the save and has fully deserved his England debut. In 10 starts this season he already has 8 assists and 4 goals.

Tariq Lamptey then quickly followed suit following his big money summer move. He already has 5 assists to his name this season and has been a real menace down the flanks for us.

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Leeds have been continually challenging for European places on this save and their strength was proven once again as they inflicted just our 2nd Premier League defeat of the season.

We did manage to bounce back just a couple of days later with a victory over United. Usually they end up doing really well in my FM saves but they have struggled year after year and Champions League football looks well beyond them yet again.

That started another run of really good results for us that also saw us complete our 100% win rate in our Europa Group. We scored 19 and only conceded once across our 6 games which really isn't bad considering I rotated the squad as much as possible for every fixture, so this was largely our 'B' teams work.

After a disappointing draw away to Sheffield we finally got to see how well we were really looking this season against the top 2 sides in the Premier League and found ourselves comprehensively beaten. Chelsea and Liverpool completely outplayed us in both fixtures and any outside shot at a title challenge this season has been thoroughly dismissed.

Fortunately we finished 2025 with a victory over Villa, with Arsenal now hot on our heels for 4th place. I cant see us not qualifying for Europe this season but think we could really do with that Champions League cash injection once again.

The transfer window has now opened and despite having some money in the budget the club's finances are not looking all too good, as we are about to go into the red. I'm also at the point where I want to sign world-class first team players rather than squad players and those unfortunately cost a lot more than £14.5 Million!

We are still operating with one of the smallest wage budgets in the League yet are revenue stream still doesn't seem to be enough to offset the losses each month.

 

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The new year kicked off with a massive game for us against and Arsenal side that are right behind us in the Top 4 race. Despite taking the lead in the game I'm just pleased we didn't lose in all honesty, especially away from home and keep the gap at 3 points. We did the register our first victory of 2026 against Barnsley in the FA Cup.

I then received a rather astonishing bid from Leeds for one of their former players, Jamie Shackleton. I managed to push the deal up to £25 Million, which is more than I could have imagined for a squad player.

To make the deal even more comical, Leeds sold Shackleton to Wolves for just £2.8 Million 3 years ago - Great bit of business there!

Having looked at the transfer market and only really searching for a back-up to Lampety, I decided to recall one of our youngsters from his loan deal and utilise him instead. So Dale Nicholas returns after a decent spell in League One with Accrington having previously made his Burnley debut last season.

After a successful bit of transfer business we followed it up with a couple of resounding victories over Fulham and Wolves.

Offers then started to trickle in for Danny Ings who has really struggled this season. He has been nowhere near as prolific as I thought he'd be looking at his attributes and was happy to recoup a bit of our transfer fee for him.

He only managed 13 goals in our last 2 seasons and didn't even manage to score in any of Europa Group games this season. Ivan Toney is our go to man and can easily get by without Ings.

It does mean that I recalled Liam Delap from his loan spell with Norwich. He has been scoring for fun in the Championship and will be returning to be the understudy to Ivan Toney up front.

Liam Delap scored in his first appearance following his loan recall as we saw off West Ham in a thriller, before nearly managing to see off Liverpool for the full 3 points. Results see us jump up to 3rd on goal difference although City do have a game in hand still on us.

Then on deadline day I did decide to finally make a transfer. We poached youngster, Laurie Baldacchino off Coventry. He's a 16 year-old goalkeeper that has already earned 3 England U21 appearances! With Pope getting older and the Arsenal's asking price for Ramsdale being £100 Million I need to try bad ourselves the best future keeper and hopefully we have.

So a quiet January transfer window really that also saw Trippier depart. He was out of contract at the end of the season and still returning to fitness after his broken leg so just decided to let him leave early and get a bit of money in the bank.

Some other exciting news is the announcement of a New Stadium in the works....

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We kicked off February with another victory over Utd, this time in the FA Cup, before putting a good run of results together in the League. Once again newly promoted Sheffield United did manage to hold out for a draw which has been a little frustrating.

It was then time to learn our fate of the last 16 of the Europa League, where we were drawn against Scottish side, Rangers. On paper we should comfortable see them off, but cup football is never usually that simple!

Nottingham Forest then pulled off an unbelievable comeback to knock us out of the FA Cup. Just by looking at the XG you can see how dominant we were and yet they managed to score a 95th minute winner. Fair play to them, but it was a very frustrating result from my point of view.

We did manage to respond with a massive victory over Chelsea and Stamford Bridge. It looked as though Werner had rescued them a point before Ivan Toney came up with a stoppage time winner as we close the gap on second place.

Despite losing at home to Rangers in the Europa League, we had managed to take a 2 goal lead into the second leg following our performance at the Ibrox to see us progress to the Quarter-Finals. Madueke also ensured that we got another crucial 3 points in the race for Champions League football.

We will now play Dortmund in the Quarter-Finals. A very tough opponent, but one that I believe we can beat, especially after our recent performances against Chelsea and Arsenal.

And with 9 games left to play in the season we find ourselves 3rd and 12 points clear of Arsenal in 5th. Barring a catastrophic implosion we should be playing in the Champions League once again next season and will really be focusing on our Europa League campaign.

Another poor youth intake. Our best prospect is a young Welsh midfielder, so will most likely be selling him even if he does develop into a first team prospect.

 

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We continued to pick up points in the Premier League, including a comprehensive victory over Spurs.

It was then time to travel to Germany to face Dortmund in the first leg of our Europa League quarter-final. Whilst he wasn't awarded MOTM, Nick Pope made some terrific saves to earn us a draw and a give us a great chance of progression in our home game.

I completely changed our 10 outfield starters for the trip to bottom of the table, Southampton. We still managed to get the 3 points and more importantly a fully rested squad before hosting Dortmund.

The rest initially didn't look to have paid off as some sloppy play meant that we found ourselves 2-0 after just 19 minutes. Fortunately the players did then manage to rally and after scoring 3 unanswered goals in a very dominant attacking display we progress through to the semi-final.

Our opponents will be Arsenal. We are unbeaten against them this season in the League, but they have historically been a side to cause us problems so will be expecting another close affair.

Before that we secured our Champions League place with 4 games left to play in the season following victories over Leeds and United.

We then got ourselves off to a flying start in the game Arsenal, going 2-0 up inside 10 minutes. They responded pretty well and had a couple of goals ruled out for offside as we managed to see the game off with just 10 men following McNeil's red card on the 78th minute.

Once again I changed the entire starting XI bar the keeper, although we had to be saved by Ivan Toney coming off the bench to score a brace and get the 3 points over Palace as we try to secure a 2nd place finish in the League.

We had a 2 goal lead heading into the game and expectation was high and Nick Pope once again made some massive saves to deny the opposition before Gallagher made the break through on half time to essentially secure our place in the Europa League final!

Our opponents will be Wolves! Having just beaten both Dortmund and Arsenal we really have to fancy our chances over a Wolves side that we've comprehensively beaten twice this season already and are down in 17th in the League!

Before that we had to conclude our Premier League season, which saw us secure a record points tally and finish 2nd behind Liverpool. We finished the season incredibly strongly and have to see ourselves as a Top 4 side now. Still don't think we can live with the consistency of Liverpool at this stage though.

Ivan Toney finished the season as the Premier League Golden Boot winner, having scored an incredible 32 goals in 34 games! Fortunately we had an option to buy in his contract so he will be joining us permanently next season from Manchester City.

So our final game of the 2025/26 season is the Europa League Final against Wolves in Lisbon.

Here is a look at the 2 starting line-ups. Fortunately we have a fully fit starting XI to put out

The game wasn't quite as comfortable as I though it might have been and had to endure a bit of squeaky *** time at the end but thankfully we managed to get the job done and ensure that Burnley are.... EUROPA LEAGUE CHAMPIONS!

Our best eleven is absolutely spot.

Noni Madueke finally found his form and delivered the level of performances I'd hoped when we signed him. Maddison also had a really impressive debut season alongside Toney. 3 players have subsequently been called up to the England World Cup squad.

We have a budget of £73 Million to work with over the Summer. Should hopefully be able to secure a couple of big signings with that money.

Whilst construction is also commencing on a new stadium for us that will see capacity rise by around 10,000. We will have to wait 2 years for that to be completed though.

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Loving this! Nice work on the Europa League win!!

 

[zacram]

Loving this! Nice work on the Europa League win!!

Cheers man, finally making some progress it seems!

 

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Our first signing of the summer was to bring Trevoh Chalobah in from Chelsea to try and strengthen up our defensive line. My first choice was Tomori from AC Milan but I was essentially priced out of the deal. He is still only 26, so has the potential to be a first team player for us for a few seasons yet.

I also pre-signed Oxlade-Chamberlain back in January from Inter Milan. He's a useful player to have due to his versatility and still has a couple of decent years left.

Meanwhile Spain beat Scotland in the World Cup Final, beating Scotland of all teams. England were knocked out at the first knockout stage and subsequently sacked their manager.

I then had to make a rather tricky decision and cash-in on our longstanding goalkeeper Nick Pope. He has been an incredible servant to Burnley over the years and has been an incredibly reliable player. Although he has now turned 34 and I had to sell him to facilitate another signing.

Through the sale of Pope we could just about scrape together enough funds to bring Aaron Ramsdale to the club. He's 6 years younger than Pope and has been the best English keeper for a number of years now. It's a massive signing for us to make and leaves our goalkeeper situation covered for a number of year.

We then had to play Liverpool in the Community Shield, I guess because they won the FA cup and we finished second in the League. As expected they were the stronger team, but we managed to get the game to penalties, where Ramsdale saved a Salah penalty to win us the trophy. Not a bad start to the season.

We then had the opportunity to win 2 trophies in a matter of days as we as we faced Bayern Munich in the Super Cup. Once again we were second best for much of it but had one hand on the trophy at the 90 minute mark thanks to an Eze goal, but Vitinha scored 2 goals in stoppage time to turn the game on its head. It would have been nice to win but just wasn't to be on this occasion.

An offer of £40 Million then came in for Tyrick Mitchell. Again, he's been a first team regular for us but has been a position I've been looking to improve over the summer. I contemplated not selling, but ultimately this deal seemed too good not to sell.

Harvey Araujo comes in as his replacement. He's a young Wing-Back that's got quite a bit of first-team experience. Obviously there are some mcuh higher quality English Wing-Backs around but none that were affordable for us at Burnley and Araujo looks like a good future prospect.

We then kicked off the new season, picking up 7 points from a possible 9. It would have been good to get a statement victory over Chelsea, especially at home, but a draw is still a decent result against one of the best sides in the country.

So that brings a close to the transfer window that has seen us make a few big deals. We've only made a net spend of £41 Million as I look to keep the clubs finances in check.

So this is going to be our senior squad up until January.

I'm particularly excited to see how Melford Brammer gets on this season for us. He was ranked as the 17th best Wonderkid in the world last season following a couple of good loan spells, most recently with Besiktas. He came through our academy and will be deputising Madeuke out on the right wing.

The Champions League Groups have also been drawn and it really doesn't look too bad. I think we are definitely strong enough to make it to the knockout stages and hopefully top our group in the process.

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Ebere Eze must have finally given up on trying to play for England and accepted an International call-up from the Nigerian National side. At leas that's what I assume anyway, as surely he's been good enough to get in that side for a while now.

He is no longer in my fully fit starting XI and as with the rule of the save I will now have to look to sell him come January. It is a bit of a shame as he's a useful player, but can hopefully get a decent fee for him.

We then continued our unbeaten start to the season, completing a perfect September which included big victories over United and Atletico in the Champions League. Spurs did halt our progress a bit but away from home isn't a terrible result.

Our teenage wonderkid, Melford Brammer then scored his first Premier League goal in the 94th minute to secure us the 3 points against City. Not a bad way to open your Premier League account in front of a packed out Turf Moor.

The unbeaten run continued and back to back 1-0 victories of RB Leipzig meant that we had secured our place in the knockout stages of the Champions League with 2 games to spare. Not only that but we are also guaranteed to finish in top spot, which does allow me to rest some players as needed.

We were in full control of the game against West Ham before Araujo picked up a red card on half time. Even with 10 men we looked threatening but Bowen managed to score an equaliser, and steal a couple of points off us.

That being said we do remain 2nd in the League, just 3 points behind Liverpool and are the only unbeaten side left this season. It's been a good start to the season that's for sure.

 

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The good times continued to roll at Turf Moor as we maintained our unbeaten start to the 2026/27 season. A couple more victories in our final Champions League Group fixtures meant that we finished with maximum points and progress to the knockout stages at a bit of a canter.

We were then duly rewarded when the knockout stages were drawn, pitting us against Dinamo Zagreb. I think many are shocked that they managed to get out of the group ahead of Ajax, but it's worked out as well as it could for us and a huge opportunity to reach the quarter-finals.

We then faced a top of the table clash against a Liverpool side that has dominated English football for the entirety of this saving, winning the title 5 times in a row! However we actually went into this fixture ahead, as Liverpool haven't been anywhere near as dominant this time around.

The game ended in a draw, but as you can see from the stats below we arguably had the best opportunities to win the game. Still, a point at Anfield is a massive result for us and keeps our noses in front most importantly.

Just a few days later and we were travelling over to Old Trafford for our League Cup Quarter-Final. I fielded a weakened starting XI that were lucky to get through to penalties before Ramsdale made 2 big saves to book our place in the Semi-Finals.

We will go up against Leeds and looking at the remaining sides in the competition have a massive opportunity to win our second League Cup of the save.

After a couple of narrow victories over Palace and Bournemouth, our unbeaten season was thwarted by Manchester City. We had 2 disallowed goals in the game, but did look second best for most of the match.

We did respond by hammering Spurs just 2 days later to close out 2026 top of the Premier League. Nobody is running away with it this season and a number of sides are still in the mix including Manchester United who haven't finished in the Top 4 for the past 4 seasons.

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We started 2027 with the very unfortunate news of Conor Gallagher breaking his leg in training. It's even more frustrating that it's a training ground injury rather than in a game, but this has essentially ended his season and is going to be a big loss for us in midfield.

Fortunately it didn't seem to impact us too much on the pitch as we continue to prove a very difficult side to beat across all competitions. The resounding 5-0 victory over Leeds in the League Cup semi-final also gives us breathing room for the return fixture.

Having touted Eze out to other clubs, the best offer that we received was £35 Million from Spurs, which I think is a very reasonable offer. He leaves the club after 4 years with the club and has been a very successful addition to the team. He had slipped out of the starting XI and having declared for Nigeria we had to sell him for the challenge. Still very good transfer business with regards to profit.

Noah Carroll then joined for a season loan to offer some cover in the AMC position. I was priced out of a transfer for him and a lot of other players so he is a decent option to help get us through to the summer, even if it has weakened our depth a bit.

We then ensured our place at Wembley with an 8-1 aggregate victory over Leeds, where we will now face Newcastle in the final. It presents a very good opportunity for us to reclaim the League Cup and add some silverware to the cabinet.

The victories then continued to roll-in before Chelsea stopped us at Stamford Bridge. We do still end January in 1st place though, despite having United and Liverpool breathing down our necks. Could this be our year?

With the sheer congestion of fixtures and injury to Gallagher I did need to bring another central midfielder into the club. Having scoured through the scouting reports I decided to bring 32-year old James Ward-Prowse to Burnley for £15.75 Million. It is quite a high transfer fee for a player of that age but I'm confident we can get 3 good seasons out of him and his set-pieces are going to be a massive weapon for us.

So we've made nearly £20 Million profit this January, as we continue to compete in 4 competitions. Hopefully the squad is strong enough to bring home at least one trophy this season!

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