Fortuna Sittard

[FM_TNSSO]

Chapter 68
Record Transfer Fee Broken
17th September 2031

Outgoing: Franz Michiels is another player that has come through our youth academy. He has had some time on loan and now he is 20, it was time to evaluate whether he was good enough for our first team. I decided he wasn't and Willem II have signed him from us for £10.5 million (£7 million up front).

Incoming: With the Michiels deal completed, we had a healthy transfer budget and I decided to blow the lot on one player. Sebastian Martinez is a defensive midfielder with real quality and knows this league well after spending a season with Feyenoord back in 2028/29. He joins us from Porto for a fee of £29 million, with £20.5 million paid up front. It breaks the club's record transfer fee again - something I have done several times since arriving at the club.

Our first away day of the season resulted in victory at Heerenveen. The scoreline doesn't reflect our entire dominance though as our opponents didn't have a single shot in the whole game!

Our encounters with Ajax and Feyenoord have now become pivotal parts of the season and getting the better of them in these games is massive even if it is only the 3rd game of the season.

It's lucky the Nkunku has made such a positive start to his career with us as he is likely to be playing more than anticipated over the first couple of months of the season, as we lose Rasmus Henriksen to injury.

The Champions League fixtures are announced and we have some tough games ahead of us against the likes of Bayern, Arsenal and Manchester United. On a positive note, if we are in the running to qualify with two games left, then we definitely have a chance of picking up wins against Anderlecht and Shakhtar.

Outgoing Loan: With the incoming players this Summer, I have a surplus on the wing and something had to give. Daan Rots has been an excellent player for me over the last few years since joining from FC Twente, contributing with goals and assists consistently every season! However, he has fallen down the pecking order and is 30 years old now, so he has been allowed to join Molde on loan for the season. We will bag a monthly fee, they will pay all of his wages and they can sign him for an optional fee of £3.1 million during the loan spell.

Outgoing Loan: Another player leaving on loan for the season is ex captain of the club, Miguel Reisinho. He has recently complained of being home sick and I was always going to do the right thing by one of my favourite players of my career. Reisinho was one of my first signings at the club and he captained us to our first ever league title so will always have a special place in my heart! He now returns to Portugal to join Penafiel for the season and they can sign him for a fee of £1.1 million to make the deal permanent.

And with that the transfer window is closed. Here's the biggest deals of the Summer across Europe (above £20 million).

Before we ventured into the Champions League for the first time this season, we had three more Eredivisie games to play and we took care of our opponents with ease in all three of them. Good to see the goals being shared around the side, with 9 different scorers in these 3 wins.

Our first Champions League game would be against Nice and we had to be confident of kicking things off with a win after we beat them in the league phase last season.

And we beat them again this year, by a more convincing scoreline. I had some fitness issues, so had to put 20 year old Jack Sanders (who came through our academy) on the bench...with 19 minutes to go, I introduced him into the game and he scored a debut goal for himself.

Another four goals were then put past ADO Den Haag as we kept up our 100% record in the Eredivisie this year.

We are the only side to win all of our opening 7 games, which sees us top the table at this early stage. Feyenoord are our nearest pursuers as they also remain unbeaten.

Our first defeat did come at the hands of Bayern Munich in the Champions League and was probably expected, but we gave a good account of ourselves out in Germany and can take positives from this game.

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Chapter 69
Some Big Injuries That Could Threaten Our Season
30th November 2031

Against FC Utrecht, we turned in a lacklustre 1st half performance and the scores were still level at the break. However, I made my feelings known at half time that I wanted to see better and the lads went out and delivered in the second 45!

We were then hit by another injury as we lose Filippo Missori for a few months. The right back has had an excellent start to the season, so it's definitely a blow to lose him!

It was back to back wins to nil against Venlo and Vitesse in the Eredivisie and that makes it ten wins from ten in the league so far this season!

But it's not all good news as we lose yet another key player for months! Christopher Nkunku has proven to be more important than I thought he'd be, but he will now miss a significant part of the season!

And with that, our 100% record in the league is also gone as we fail to put the ball in the back of the net against Zwolle.

At least we got back to taking our chances against Monaco in a much needed victory in the Champions League.

We had kept 5 straight clean sheets in all competitions before meeting Cambuur in the Eredivisie, who did manage to put one past us courtesy of a massive deflection. However, we scored twice to ensure we still took the 3 points against one of the overachievers of the season so far.

It was Fenerbahce at home for us next in the Champions League and it was a match I was seeing as a must win. The reason being that we would follow this game with two really tough fixtures against Man Utd and Arsenal from which it would be tough to take any points.

We got the job done in convincing fashion. Rodiney has been a little in and out of form this season, so it was good to see him bag a hat trick here which hopefully he can now kick on from.

Although we have a couple of tough games coming up, we have put ourselves in a nice position at the half way stage of the league phase.

We had a massive game in the Eredivisie against one of our main title rivals...or they're at least supposed to be although you wouldn't think it from the result! It's our biggest victory over Feyenoord in 9 seasons of me being here!

The expansion to the stadium has now been completed and we can boast a capacity of more than 36,500 now!

Only Ajax and Feyenoord can fit more fans into their stadium than us in the country now!

We've overtaken PSV in stadium size and it's fair to say that we are a bigger team than them now as well. We might not have as much of a rich history, but they have never really been challengers since I took over at Fortuna and I never really worry about taking them on these days. Their lack of threat was once again proven as we beat them again in the league.

Possibly our most impressive win of the season came in our next game though as we travelled to Manchester in the Champions League and returned home with all 3 points. We had to ride some pressure at times, but defended well, took our chances when they came and record an excllent victory.

The Manchester United win did come at a cost though as I lose one of my best centre backs for the next month or so.

But our position in the league phase of the competition is cemented in the top 8 and we look on course to qualify directly for the last 16 again, which would be a great achievement if we can do that for the second season in a row. Ajax are also having a decent Champions League campaign which can only be good for Dutch football.

Back in the Eredivisie, it was case of business as usual as we beat Go Ahead Eagles without any issues whatsoever.

And that ensures we remain unbeaten after 15 games and retain a 3 point lead over Ajax who are trying their hardest to keep up with us this year, only losing once themselves (we do have a game in hand though).

 

[CrokayVessel]

Fantastic save! I was looking for a new save for a while & this has inspired me to go to my grandfathers heritage & start a save with SC Heerenveen! Good luck for next season!

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Fantastic save! I was looking for a new save for a while & this has inspired me to go to my grandfathers heritage & start a save with SC Heerenveen! Good luck for next season!

Thanks mate, glad you've enjoyed the read so far!

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Chapter 70
Domestic Dominance
25th January 2032

Two Eredivisie games in 4 days would take us to the half way point of the season! We had 51 shots on goal across those two games and when you have that many attempts, you're pretty much always going to win games and sure enough, it was another 6 points on the board.

That would lead us into a Champions League encounter with an Arsenal team that desperately needed a win, as they sat 23rd in the league phase after 5 games and were in potential danger of not even qualifying for the knockout playoff at this rate. One player they do still have in their ranks is my favourite IRL, Bukayo Saka who has gone on to win the Ballon d'Or three times in his career.

Saka wasn't able to prevent Arsenal losing to us though and this is another massive result for us in this year's competition.

With 2 games of the league phase remaining, we sit 2nd behind Porto and with our last 2 matches being against Anderlecht and Shakhtar, I would fully expect us to qualify for the last 16 from here.

Our last 2 fixtures of 2031 will pit us against the same side as we take on Heerenveen in both the league and cup.

It was advantage to us as we won the league fixture pretty comfortably, meaning we could go into the cup game full of confidence of progressing in the competition.

Thanks to a second half brace from Ignacio Fernandez, we are indeed through to the next round of the cup and we remain unbeaten in domestic competitions this season.

In the third round, we will face off against VVV-Venlo.

I haven't had an approach from another club for a while, but Newcastle have become the latest in my career to invite me to interview for the manager's job at their club. With them sitting 11th in the Premier League, it wasn't a job that appeals to me in any way right now.

As we come to the end of the calendar year, the European Golden Boy is announced and for the second time, one of our players wins the award for the most promising youngster in Europe.

Incoming: The January transfer window is now open and it's likely to be a quiet window for us with not a lot of money left in the budget. However, there was an arrival on the opening day as 17 year old youth prospect, Rick Hup, signs from PSV for £950k.

Our first game of the New Year was against FC Eindhoven, who we had thrashed 5-1 on the opening day of the season. The scoreline wasn't so impressive this time round, but it is another easy win and another 3 points!

We're comfortably through to the quarter finals of the Dutch Cup again as well after beating our fiercest rivals by a big margin.

Where we will now take on Feyenoord in a battle of two of the tournament favourites.

Outgoing: There is a big departure again this transfer window as 23 year old attacking midfielder, Gustavo Hormazabal joins Bournemouth. He wanted a move in the Summer but I couldn't get enough money for him and agreed to let him leave if someone was willing to pay £25 million + for him. As it turns out, The Cherries were willing to pay £29.5 million (with £21 million up front). Again, it's a fantastic profit for us on a player I only paid £1.6 million for.

With progress in the domestic cup sorted, we turned our attentions back to European competition and with a win out in Belgium, we assure progress in the Champions League as well! For the second season in a row, we have finished in the top 8 of the league phase and made it straight through to the last 16 and that's impressive.

If we win our last game, we might even finish top of the pile!

Back in the Erevisie, we had a tough away day at Ajax to contend with. Or at least it was supposed to be tough...we absolutely batter our biggest rivals in the title race this season on their own turf and is this a sign of just how dominant we have become in domestic Dutch football now?!

With that victory, we now have a massive 14 point lead at the top of the table!

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Chapter 71
Competing On Multiple Fronts Makes For A Busy Schedule
15th March 2032

Incoming: After Gustavo Hormazabal joined Bournemouth a couple of weeks ago, we now have a player coming back in the opposite direction as we sign 22 year old Dane, Martin Jensen, from the South coast club. He only cost us £3.5 million and will act as a fringe player to provide cover in the Eredivise, giving me an opportunity to rest key players for the Champions League games.

Our final Champions League game against Shakhtar resulted in another win and another 3 points in the league phase for us. It was 3 points that ensured we finished top of the pile...if only this meant we were the Champions League Champions eh?!

In the Eredivise we took on bottom side NAC and I took the opportunity to rest a whole load of players, with a Cup quarter final on the horizon against Feyenoord. NAC actually took a shock lead in the game, but we rallied and ended up putting 6 past them on our way to an emphatic victory.

We are now 53 games unbeaten in the Eredivisie across the last 2 seasons and that is a new Dutch record!

Resting most of my first team in the league game against NAC proved to be a worthy exercise as in the quarter final of the Dutch Cup against Feyenoord, we managed to overcome one of our main rivals with considerable ease. It was a game that saw the return of Christopher Nkunku after nearly 4 months out as he came off the bench for the second half and his return to the first team can only bode well for the back end of the season!

The semi final will now pit us against our other biggest rivals and an away draw makes things that little bit trickier for us to make the final again. If we do, I fancy our chances of lifting the trophy again though!

Excelsior are the biggest overachievers in the Eredivisie this season and are pushing hard for a European qualification place. And to be fair to them, they gave us a very good game here and pushed us closer than most have done this year, but we just had that extra bit of quality to come out on top.

AZ were no such challenge and we beat them pretty easily.

Rodiney now has 19 goals in all competitions this season and of late, he just can't stop scoring and now has 12 in his last 9 appearances.

It was time for the last 16 draw of the Champions League. There were some massive sides in the unseeded side of the draw and I was hoping we might get Monaco, Newcastle or Benfica as I felt these were our most winnable ties. After getting PSG at this stage last year, surely we would get a bit better luck in this season's draw?

We didn't get any of the three I was after, but Roma is probably the best of the rest we could have hoped for and although it will be a tight couple of games, I feel this is winnable.

Before the first leg, we had an Eredivisie fixture against ADO Den Haag...a fixture that resulted in another easy win and another 2 goals for Rodiney!

With the first leg of our Champions League fixture being out in Italy, my plan was to keep things tight and if we could go into the home leg level on terms with Roma, we would have a good chance to progress. What I didn't expect was to be the much more dominant side and return home with the lead. It is only a single goal though, so we'll still have to be on our A game in the return leg.

Back in the Eredivisie, we looked like we might be suffering a Champions League hangover in the first half and we went into the break at 0-0. However, that second half performance was pretty unbelievable!

Carrying a 1-0 lead from the first leg, I probably shouldn't have felt as nervous as I did for the second game against Roma in the Champions League, with home advantage now on our side. My lads relayed any fears of letting the opportunity slip through our fingers with a solid performance and a good win against our Italian opposition to see us into the quarter final of the competition.

We will now face a very tough quarter final against 6 times competition winners, Liverpool!

The games are coming thick and fast and a league tie with VVV Venlo was only 4 days later. And 4 days after this, we'd have a semi final of the Dutch Cup to play against Ajax. Therefore, I took the opportunity to rest as many players as I could here and a full 11 changes were made to the starting lineup! It cost us as we turned in our worst display of the season and suffer defeat in the league for the first time this year.

It's disappointing to lose our unbeaten record, but with such a huge lead at the top of the table, it shouldn't make a difference to where the league title is going again this season!

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Chapter 72
The Business End
14th April 2032

With us looking to wrap up the league title, lift another Dutch Cup and progress in the Champions League, this was very much the business end of the season and I would have to carefully balance the players fitness whilst ensuring we are at our best every game to ensure maximum success on all fronts.

After resting my first choice starting eleven in our last league game, which resulted in our first league defeat of the season, we had to make sure it was worth it against Ajax in the semi final of the Dutch Cup. And we did exactly that as we breeze past our main rivals to make the final once again. It was a tight first half, but the introduction of Kaio Jorge saw him get us off the mark before a Juan Hernandez masterclass as he bagged a hat trick.

It'll be PSV for us in the final now and it's worth noting that I've never lost to them! Surely we will go into this as hot favourites.

We had a league title to wrap up before that though and that started with a home win against Vitesse, where Ignacio Fernandez was in sensational form, scoring a perfect hat trick with right foot, left foot and header!

That win left us just 1 victory away from wrapping up the title.

And we got the job done in our very next game away at Zwolle. We are Champions of Holland once again!

On a more negative note, our youth intake this year is absolute dog ****!

However, more positively, we do have three players listed in the top 50 wonderkids this season and all three of them did come through our youth academy. All three of them are out on loan at the moment across Europe and performing well.

Andy Hasselbaink has even just had his first call up and cap for the Dutch national team, whilst Nziza is becoming a very established centre back. Both of these two will be promoted to the senior squad and feature for us next season for sure, whilst Lyall Felgate will also get some game time as well.

Back to the action on the pitch and we celebrate our title win with a victory against Cambuur in front of our own fans.

Just 3 days after the Cambuur game, we had the first leg of our Champions League tie against Liverpool to play. Heading out to the North West of England, for our first encounter with Liverpool under my management, we managed to come back with an unlikely victory. A massive result in the away leg that should give us a confidence boost we can get the job done at home and progress to the semis.

We had a league game against Feyenoord in between the two legs and with the title already won, I took the opportunity to rest as many players as possible. Even with a weakened side and a second half red card, we still managed to get the win. Is the Dutch league just a bit too easy for us now...well, I think it's safe to say that this season it has been!

I mean...nobody has got anywhere near us this season!

Just 3 days after the win over Feyenoord, we were back in Champions League action for that 2nd leg against Liverpool. With a 3-2 lead and home advantage now on our side, we had every reason to feel confident we could progress to the semi finals of the competition for the first time. That confidence was not misplaced as we pull off possibly the most incredible result of my whole career! The other three sides in the final 4 will be on red alert after our display here!

It's more English opposition for us in the semis as we face Arsenal...who we have beaten in this year's league phase already.

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Chapter 73
KNVB Beker Final
17th May 2032

Our opponents in this year's Dutch Cup Final will be PSV Eindhoven...a team that have never beaten me!

Top goalscorer Rodiney has picked up an injury and would miss the game, so I called upon Christopher Nkunku's experience up front for the game!

Nkunku didn't get himself on the scoresheet and actually only had a pretty average game. However, the attacking midfielders around him all thrived and led us to another trophy as we complete a domestic double for the second season in a row.

Our next league game was also against PSV and also resulted in a win, this time with Nkunku opening the scoring!

Our semi final tie of the Champions League against Arsenal would see us play the home leg first and it was important that we take a lead to London to give ourselves a realistic chance of making the final. We did beat The Gunners 2-1 earlier in the season in the league phase of the competition and I'd be more than happy if we can repeat that performance/scoreline!

And I am more than happy! An excellent performance in front of our home fans gives us a 2 goal cushion going into the away leg...could we actually be looking at a Champions League Final?! The excitement is very real!

Naturally, everyone was rested for the league game against Go Ahead, but we still managed to get the result.

With the first choice 11 all rested and with a 2 goal lead in hand, we would have no excuses against Arsenal in the Champions League. And we didn't need any excuses as we come away with another 2 goal win, which means the aggregate score was actually very comfortable! I'm pinching myself but yes...Fortuna Sittard are in a Champions League Final!!!

It's Barcelona who await us in the biggest single game of the club's entire history!

Before the final, we had our final two Eredivisie fixtures to play and we round off the campaign with two more victories.

It means we finish the season with a record 97 points, winning 32 of our 34 games and scoring 114 goals in the process! What a season it has been for us in the domestic league!

So that just leaves the small matter of a Champions League Final left to play.​

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Chapter 74
Champions League Final
29th May 2032

It's here...the single biggest game of my career to date. The Champions League final, which will be played in the Estadio da Luz in Portugal, hosting 65,000 fans!

It might be the first time we have ever come this far and we are playing a side that has won this competition no less than five times, but we're not huge outsiders...in fact the fans and media are struggling to split the two sides!

Barcelona's dangerman is 24 year old Lamine Yamal, who pockets a whopping £750k per week in wages. In comparison, my whole wage bill is just over £1.2 million per week!

Lineups

We had been the better team throughout most of the first half, limiting Barcelona to just a single shot, so when Daniel Blanco cut inside into the penalty area on 41 minutes and blasted a powerful shot on goal which found it's way in at the near post, it was a fully deserved lead!

We went into the half time break knowing that if we now kept a clean sheet, the trophy would be ours!

Barca did come out with a lot more intent in the 2nd period and we were under a lot more pressure from the Spanish giants. However, we held our nerve to pull off the unthinkable...Fortuna Sittard are UEFA Champions League Champions!! ******* GET IN!!!

What an incredible achievement!

And it's just the tip of the iceberg for a season which has been pretty much perfect and without a doubt, my best ever in any version of FM!

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Mate it was just as painful for me not having the time to play the game at all for a couple of days!

 

[FM_TNSSO]

END OF SEASON 2031/32 REVIEW

Competition Winners

We were just 2 wins away from a perfect season in the Eredivisie, but it was record breaking in a number of ways - most points, most goals and most wins!

Beating both Feyenoord and Ajax on the way to lifting the Dutch Cup made it even sweeter when we lifted the trophy.

But the most amazing achievement of all was winning the Champions League and I still can't quite believe it!

The New Arrivals

The Best 11

Club Awards

League Awards
​

Champions League Awards
​

Our fanbase has seen considerable growth this season with more than 3 million social media followers gained!! We are now approaching 10 million overall which is incredible really!

As far as the board goes, it's all about continuing to dominate domestic football over the next 5 seasons!

The Commercials

The Finances

With Champions League success and the money that comes with it, the budgets are the biggest I've ever had next season! Although £32 million probably doesn't buy a player that improves a Champions League winning squad!!

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Chapter 75
A Couple Of Legends Depart The Club
21st August 2032

Our Champions League win last season has seen us move up to 8th in the European club rankings!

And our stature in world football has grown to make us the 13th biggest club in the world, overtaking Manchester United and Spurs in the process!

Nobody can deny that Christopher Nkunku has had an illustrious career and last season with us capped it off for him with the biggest honour - a Champions League medal! He has now retired from professional football.

Outgoing: One of my first signings as Fortuna Sittard manager was Miguel Reisinho and the Portuguese midfielder went on to captain the club for my first few years in charge. He has now left the club as he reaches 33 years old and the back end of his career and joins Salernitana on a free. He has been an important player for me over the years and one of my favourites so it's with a heavy heart I see him go.

Outgoing: Another experienced player that leaves the club this Summer is centre back Mads Sorensen. He has only been here for a season after arriving on a free, so when Al-Fayha were willing to pay £7.75 million for a 33 year old, then I was happy to let him go.

Pre-season was once again relatively routine stuff, with a successful tour of China thrown in to boost our profile in Asia. A good draw against Real Madrid was probably the highlight.

Our participation in the Johan Cruijff Schaal is becoming our first fixture of every season now and we lift the trophy once again. However, I'm a little disappointed that we required a penalty shootout to get the job done considering we had 20 shots in the 90 minutes and Ajax didn't manage a single shot at our goal! If we'd have lost the shootout, it would have been a robbery.

With the new Eredivisie season now upon us, for the first time we are favourites to win the title this year. Not only that, but we are actually odds on as the bookies start to recognise we are the best team in the country by some way. That is also backed up by the fact 6 of our players dominate the media dream 11.

We weren't handed the easiest of opening day fixtures as we went away to Heerenveen who are expected to finish in the top 5 this year. Despite that, we go on to win our first fixture of the new league campaign, with Ignacio Fernandez shining with his hat trick from the right wing!

Our next game would see us contest the UEFA Super Cup against Fiorentina. We won this trophy last time we played in it, beating Dortmund. However, on this occasion we weren't able to get over the line as Europa League winners beat Champions League winners again.

Incoming: I've been in no rush to make signings this Summer, but my first one does finally join the club. Marco Evangelista looks like he could be a steal at just £12.75 million from Sassuolo and can make an immediate impact in the Dutch league I am sure. At 23 years old, he can continue to improve as well!

Our new man made an instant impact, scoring twice on his debut.

Outgoing: Then there was more transfer news in a case of 'one out, one in'. The player that leaves is one that has become a bit of a club legend during my time here. Abdallah Sima signed for us in 2025/26 for a fee of just £1.7 million from Brighton and has gone on to make 134 league appearances to the club, scoring 63 times. He walks away with a whole host of trophies as he joins Galatasaray for £4.4 million, to potentially finish off his career in Turkey. Love him, but we have much better players at the club now.

Incoming: Sima's replacement is a 22 year old Dutch winger with terrifying pace and acceleration and a tidy finish on him. I am confident that Massimo Burg is going to be a major success at the club for years to come and will prove well worth the £33.5 million we paid Anderlecht to bring him here.

Incoming: I have also brought in another attacking midfielder. Paraguayan, Kevin Mendoza, had a release clause of just £825k and that was just too good an opportunity to miss so we snap him up. However, I don't see a place for him right now, so have sent him back on loan to Libertad for the rest of the season.

Massimo Burg came on from the bench to score a debut goal against Sparta Rotterdam as we win again. I have to say I really wasn't sure where we could strengthen this Summer, but I feel like we've actually managed it.

Outgoing: Finally, there is another outgoing transfer as Vasilis Zagaritis leaves the club to join Roma in a deal worth £5 million.

 

[CrokayVessel]

Love reading the updates!
I'm into season 4 with SC Heerenveen just won the Dutch Cup for the first time but struggling to crack top 3 !
Was weird seeing Thijmen Blokzyls name at the club as I've actually just signed him in S4 as a backup/future CB as Groningen got relegated!

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Chapter 76
Fortuna Sittard

So it's been 9 and a half seasons with Fortuna Sittard and I've thoroughly enjoyed my time with the club but I am now a little bit bored and struggling for motivation to carry on. Dutch domestic football has become far too easy and even the top clubs pose no threat to us in the slightest. The aim of winning the Champions League was keeping me going, but now I've completed that as well, I feel like I need to get my teeth stuck into something new.

My time with Fortuna Sittard has brought with it a total of 16 trophies. They include 4x Eredivisie, 4x Toto KNVB Beker (Dutch Cup), 4x Johan Cruijff Schaal, 1x UEFA Champions League, 1x UEFA Europa League, 1x UEFA Super Cup, 1x Euro/South American Club Challenge. On top of that, there was 5x Manager of the Year awards for me!

With all that success, we have taken the club from a mid table (at best) team to a club worth over £1 billion and with superb facilities throughout.

All of which has contributed to me being cemented in the club's history as a legend.

Which is no real surprise as I've led the club to be the most reputable in the whole country and the only Dutch club in today's age with a worldwide reputation.

I leave the club in the perfect position to retain their Eredivisie title too, with a perfect record this season on 18 wins from 18 games and a 10 point lead at the top! Like I said though....it's all far too easy. I mean scoring 74 goals in 18 games as well is just crazy!

I also leave them with a very healthy young squad full of exceptional talent, so the future continues to look very bright for the club!

A few players to mention...starting with Spike Brits who has been my rock between the sticks for the last 6 seasons. I'm still disgusted he hasn't bagged himself an England cap despite being called up to the squad for the past 4 years!

My Dutch maestro at the heart of my defence is Xavier Mbuyamba and since his arrival at the club, we started to win things. I leave with him being my current captain and I fell in love with the ever dependable centre back!

Cristian Aguero is the 3rd most valuable player at the football club today after costing me just £9.25 million, back in 2027. He was one of the first South Americans I signed and has shown incredible loyalty to the club when he is definitely good enough to be playing in one of Europe's top leagues.

The most valuable asset is another South American in the form of Brazilian striker, Rodiney. He's proven to be a prolific goalscorer in both domestic and European competition and is another player who could well have a future away from the club competing at a higher level week in, week out.

Possibly my favourite of them all though is a player that never should have gone on to be as good as he has been for me...never did I think he had the potential he proved to have when we paid a mere £3.6 million for him. However, Rasmus Henriksen exceeded every expectation I had of him and he's still just 24 years old.

So as I sign off as Fortuna Sittard manager for the past 3436 days, my record speaks for itself with a win percentage of 72% from nearly 500 games in charge.

I'll be back with something new in the near future, but for now I want to say thank you to everyone that has followed, liked and commented on this career along the way! It is much appreciated!​

 

[misterioBean]

What a great read and what a career you forged in the Netherlands. Can't wait for your next one!

 

[CrokayVessel]

Wow - What a ride - Cannot wait to read along for the next one!

Hopefully I get half that success at Heerenveen!

 

[DisturbedOne]

Well that was a story and a half, what a journey. You probs don't take suggestions but St Pauli could be a good save for a story like yours.

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Thanks for all your comments guys! Glad you enjoyed the ride as much as me! New story is incoming...