Improving Ireland with Sligo Rovers

[Hampus Silverholt]

Thoroughly enjoy following this save just like the Berwick one man also very funny especially the Cretaro bits XD Being from Ireland myself I never did an Irish save but currently have started one with Shelbourne my local team from reading this. I reckon the reason Scotland are doing so well in this save is because of the legend Scott Scott the Scot

How I miss Scott Scott the Scot! Weird you should mention Cretaro and Shelbourne as he went onto become Shelbourne manager twice in this save!

 

[Hampus Silverholt]

So Close Yet So Far

Manchester United in the Champions League quarter final at Old Trafford. It was the biggest game of my 11 years/675 games in charge of Sligo.

At least we won the second half…

Scoring 2 goals away at Old Trafford was a pretty good effort against a team that normally smash us. Added to that, we had Leandro Machado back for the second leg after his return from injury.

It turns out that we missed him a lot.

The Uruguayan scored within 10 minutes of the return leg! With just one goal needed to send us to a Champions League semi-final, I thought this was our chance to make history… But it wasn’t to be.

So close, yet so far away.

Just 2 seasons ago we were getting battered by United in the Champions League 4-1 but we gave them a real good go in the quarter finals this time around.

I don’t think we’re that far away but it is still going to take another few years for us to be able to challenge for the Champions League.

In the home leg against United we achieved our highest ever gate receipts because for the first time we played at Thomond Park in Limerick rather than R.D.S in Dublin.

Cobh Ramblers were eventually knocked out by Arsenal in the Europa League Second Knockout Round.

And in some much needed good news, we beat Scotland in our first World Cup 2030 Qualification match.

It was a big result considering they’re our closest competitors.

I wonder if this time next season we’ll be preparing for a Champions League final and a World Cup…
​

 

[Hampus Silverholt]

Nations League Semi Final

Right then, it’s June 2029 which means we are halfway through the Irish season. We’re getting to the point where we’ve built up Cobh and Shamrock Rovers so well that they’re very much title challengers this year.

That’s not the main concern though. The main concern is our players being wanted by big Premier League clubs.

It’s 11 players in total. A 4 star player for us now is honestly borderline world class such is the quality of players we have at the club.

Czech right back Tomas Kolar is the main example of that. We paid £3.5m for him when he was 16 but it was worth it.

So it remains to be seen what happens in the transfer window before we start another Champions League group stage in a couple of months.

However, we have some immediate business with Ireland in June. We’re in the Nations League semi-final.

Despite being ranked 37th​ in the world.

We’re nowhere near better than France but are capable of causing an upset so who knows what could happen!​

 

[Hampus Silverholt]

Still Here

These updates may occur once a week but they’re definitely still happening!

Our Nations League semi-final didn’t go to plan…

Despite being the better team, we lost 3-1 to the team ranked number 1 in the world.

I made 6 changes for the 3rd​ place game, which was against Portugal.

Once again a loss was a harsh result but we just don’t have the quality that nations like France and Portugal have.

The goalscorers in that game were Stephen Kearney, who is just about good enough to start for Shamrock

And Adam Idah, who has been in and out the squad since I became Ireland manager 7 years ago (7 years!!) but scored 20 goals for Montpellier last season so I couldn’t leave him out.

I’m not too fussed about losing those 2 games, the priority is about qualifying for the World Cup next year.

Elsewhere, the EURO under 21 tournament is taking place and we have just the 17 players taking part.

And Sligo players have been amongst the end of season Champions League awards. Leandro Machado was second top scorer despite us only getting to the quarter final

And Marcin Bulka was third in goalkeeper of the season.

I remember not being convinced by him when he first signed but he’s probably been one of the players of the save!

Having said that, he might be getting replaced this summer…

We’ve got some big clubs circling around our best players, hopefully we don’t lose any in the transfer window!​