Saving Scottish Football 2021

[Mr_Grieves]

November


The 2034 world cup will not feature either Holland or ENGLAND The Foden/Sancho Generation somehow miss out on their final tournament

Aberdeen finally sack Nikolic who has dragged them from over £100m in the green to be in debt

Hibs despite a great start and reasonable Autumn sack Thierry Henry. Hopefully one of the new managers can make one of my former teams a force once again.

Fixtures

Aberdeen did manage to beat us in Nikolic's final days but we won the other 3 including thrashing Rangers and their mouth manager David McCracken


SPL Table

The lead at the top is 5 points to Hearts while the chasing pack need to do something in December to stop it being HEarts vs Dundee Utd for the title again.


Champions League

Would you like to see two of the most amazing results in the save? The first game we pull Roma to shreds again to all but secure a top 3 was followed by the most amazing comeback I've ever seen.

5-0 Down as we headed towards half time i wondered why we tried being more aggressive. The second half proved otherwise and by a force of nature, we have made it to the last 16.

 

[Mr_Grieves]

December


Two new managers for two of Scotlands biggest teams Aberdeen hire a man who started the save with Edinburgh city and has been sacked by Dundee & St Mirren while Hibs hire Bayern Munich's u19 manager.


Fixtures

5 SPL games and we almost had a clean sweep except for a manic comeback from Dundee in the derby.


SPL Table

There's only 5 points between 2nd and 6th but at the top 13 points clear are Dundee Utd. Only we can lose this from here.


Champions League

Our reserves drew with Man City's reserves with the positions settle we will happily take the £300k

Last 16
Dundee Utd vs Atletico Madrid

We could have got Porto or Lyon but Atletico is not the worst draw but at the last 16 i always lose so there are no expectations. Celtic made the last 16 too while Hearts & Hibs are in the knockout phase of the Europa league

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[Mr_Grieves]

January


Fixtures

We returned from our winter break with 3 league wins. A draw at Hibs is not a disaster considering our strong state in the league. The youngsters beat Alloa in the cup.


SPL Table

With a game in hand, we move 14 points clear while everyone else is still in the hunt for 2nd. Kilmarnock looks doomed with 2 wins from 24.


Transfer Window

Celtic make the biggest moves including one from Hearts. Boca Juniors is raided by the SPL.


Dundee Utd

4 new players join the squad while 3 leave permanently and 2 on loan.


DC's Juan Di Meglio & Sunday Alhassan

Two center backs were signed on pre contract deals but to land both now for £700k will be huge for the second half of our season.


Youngster Matt Reynolds has a lot of work to do to make it in the 1st team while Brazilian Rolando Goulart has some amazing raw tools. We broke the bank for him so he better reaches those potentials.

The biggest deals we did in January was new contracts for Esteban and Daveds the squads two star players. Both had release clauses just under £20m so now they're out of the way we can first focus on the rest of this season then salivate over how much money they'll make for us in the next 18 months.

Out
Two starting defenders Branko Skreblin & Velimir Segavac are off to Serie A to play their trade after both their minimum fee's were hit.​

 

[MidKnightDreary]

6-5 win over Real Madrid... 4-4 draw with Dundee. Football is magic

 

[Mr_Grieves]

6-5 win over Real Madrid... 4-4 draw with Dundee. Football is magic

Two of the more mental results I've ever seen. The Real Madrid one was especially ridiculous as I was just talking to Klippybo and said we were 3-0 down and we were destined for the Europa League when that happened.

 

[Mr_Grieves]

February


Fixtures

We always seem to have to cram in games during February and as per this year we had a game every Wednesday & Saturday domestically we avoided defeat for the 3rd month in a row although there was an extreme amount of luck with a 94th-minute equaliser at Hearts then we came from 2-0 down to beat Aberdeen 3-2.


SPL Table

It's in the bag now surely with the chase for 2nd falling over themselves at every opportunity.


Champions League last 16 1st Leg
Dundee Utd 1-1 Atletico Madrid

We took the lead but Atleti deserved to take something from the game. Makes the 2nd leg a very difficult challenge for us to overcome this last 16 hoodoo

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[Mr_Grieves]

March

5th Favourite for the league Dundee Utd are champions with almost 1/4 of the season to go.​

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Fixtures

With the title won we kept on winning as i tried out a few squad players to decide how many of these players I'll be cashing on at the end of this season.


SPL Table

With the title won it's anyone's guess who will finish 2nd as the top 6 have predictably pulled away from the rest. Kilmarnock is all but down but Ross County has a chance to get out of the playoffs.


Champions League Last 16
Atletico Madrid 5-1 Dundee Utd Agg

We got destroyed in the 2nd leg but it was very unjust but for the 6th time in 7 seasons we lost in Europe at the last 16 phase​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

End Of Season


With the title wrapped up, there's no need for updates of how our youth team did over 2 months so here we go. Guess where the number of kids starting peaked?

Final SPL Table

Scottish Cup Final
Dundee Utd 2-0 Celtic

United pull off their first-ever domestic double. Could we do the treble next year?
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[Mr_Grieves]

Season 13 Review


Dundee Utd Squad

Sean O'Shea had another great season in goals and even as he starts hitting the limit of his potential I'm not ready to sell a keeper that averages over 7,00 Archer could start for any bottom half team so any offer over the top would be accepted
The class left back Dragos Ignat was the only defender who started regularly as Allen on the other wing hardly started until the January sales. There will be movement in the middle of the defence with 6 players in the first team squad. Best offers for Axelsson and Brum, please. Alhassan with his potential will definitely be starting next season.
The 4 midfielders were a class above the rest with Daveds and Greenidge both being involved in 27 goals and making sure Solomon will be sold in the summer. Stacey is possibly the best midfielder I've had and with Aitchinson only having 12 months left on his deal and Varela passing him as the main back up someone from the youths or reserves will hope to be the 4th man next term.
Upfront Esteban had the most ridiculous season known to man. 60 goals in 41 appearances while Yousif only managed 37 from his 37. Caceres proved to be our best back up so Mandanda was sold before the end of the season with almost a dozen backups around the squad i need to speed up the selling. Hard when Esteban has seasons like this.


My Player of the Season
Rodrigo Esteban

I hate putting the same player in two seasons in a row but when a player does this there is no way i can pick anyone else.


Final SPL Table

Dundee Utd waltzed to one of my easiest league title wins in the save and definitely the most surprising. Celtic have moved clear as the best squad and 2nd best team in the league if that makes any sense. HEarts drop to 3rd and a Europa League spot as Hibs & Rangers go into the Europa 2. Surely one of them can do some damage in there.

Play-Off
Ross County 2-2 Airdrieonians
Ross County win 4-2 on pens

It took penalties but Ross County keeps their place in the top flight while Airdrie's 40 year wait to return goes on.


Europe

Celtic once again had the best European season beating Bayern Munich to go a step further than us and reach the champions league quarter-finals
Hearts & Hibs got to the last 16 of the Europa League loosing to Southampton & Real Madrid, sorry about that.
Aberdeen had a calamitous season as they went out in the Conference qualifier. The dons will be my next job at this rate. What a mess they are in.


Club Rankings

Scotland up to a new high of 6th and 3 champions league places from the end of next season with a total of 6 teams in Europe.​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

Dundee Utd Season 14
Pre Season 2034/35


World Cup
Germany 1-0 Croatia

I always work back and was thinking the Quarter Finals were strong then saw Congo was there. Who the **** did they beat? Oh, Brazil!

Germany are the 4th different winner in the save after Brazil, Spain & France, aka Me

Season Targets
SPL - Winners
Scottish Cup - Beat all top 5 sides
League Cup - Beat all top 5 sides
Champions League - Europe after Christmas

Were being a bit more aggressive in demanding a league win since most of last years team return. Europe can not go as well as last year and I'll still be happy with a top 3 in the groups


SPL Pre Season Prices

Hibs and Celtic remain the favourites but as the dream 11 shows it should be anyone's title. The top 4 are all under 10/1


Celtic Management

As you may see above Celtic have a new manager. Sad to see Warburton retire as he had some great European runs with Celtic. Paulo Fonseca is fresh from failing to get England into the world cup but on the other hand, he won Serie A and a Europa League with Roma so we'll see which one he brings to Celtic.

Big-name if nothing else which I the least he deserved after getting sacked in real life today. Ross County also changes manager nicking my u18 manager.

Dundee Utd Transfers

Busier summer than i expected with the lack of players leaving. I'll have to be very productive with accepting bids over the next 12 months before the first wonder group of u18s come through.

In


Djodje Glisic - GK

I didn't need to upgrade the backup keeper but when Partizan have a keeper that could be better than mine with a min fee of £2.8m I'm having that

Victor Bahia - DC

I instantly get my best centre back. Brazilian tax league

Alexandr Rodionov - DR

A generational right back out of Shakhtar for free. Shame i have another 3 to work with

Hong Dong-Wook - MC

The South Korean wonder kid come from his homeland to the city of discovery. Already good enough to start.


Giacomo Cobianchi - Att

I needed a 4th striker and really should have used a u18 but this looked like a chance to make a quick buck in a years time.


5 players into the Youth team

Out

5 Players leave for a very generous profit and best of all only one of them was a regular starter. That man was Filip Axelsson who was lost in the shuffle at DC as his contract was up in 12 months. Mandanda and Danny Aitchison were in the same boat, worried about losing a Scotsman but were mostly about making money at this point in the rebuild. Yoni Solomon almost left in January for £6m so was nice to see us eek a few more pennies out of 6 months work and finally, our lead youngster up top Daz Skelton goes back to England for £8m but there are four 5* strikers in the u18s so i felt i could let this one slide.​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

August


Fixtures

Uniteds title defence kicks off with an extremely lapse defensive display at Parkhead where we conceded 5 goals to Celtic. Not a bad debut for Fonseca, far better than Victor Bahia's for us. We stumbled past Hibs beofre huge wins at Kilmarnock & Ross County. Not sure what to make of this start after only changing a CB from last years title winning team.


SPL Table

Just one point off the top despite losing to Celtic is something we can live with. Rangers remind me that it could be far worse while th Dons are not doing much better,


Champions League Draw

This is far better after last years group of death this feels like we can get our behind champions league regulars, Liverpool.


SPL Transfer Window

A very quiet but profitable summer for the SPL with not a single major transfer coming in.


Dundee Utd Transfers

Nobody else arrived as we trimmed the first team down to an acceptable level selling Wilson Brum a regular starter for less than Luis Vasquez my 3rd choice MR. Ryan Arthur not content with being 3rd choice also jumped ship.​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

September


Fixtures

A poor month domestically. WIns over Motherwell & Rangers are not too impressive on the grand scale of things. St Mirren held us to a draw in another high scoring game and worse of all we had 2 home games to Hearts losing to them in the League cup for the second year in a row and then could only draw in the league game.


SPL Table

7 Games in and Rangers are still yet to win a game and are a hopeless 14 points off top spot and 7 points off a top 6. This is a brilliant start as one of my secret aims is to get 12 SPL teams bigger and better than Rangers to get them relegated out of the top flight. They might do it themselves if they keep this up.


Champions League

We made a terrible start at home to Lille and were behind until the final 20 minutes where everything we touched turned to goals. Great start for our push for another last 16 defeat.
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[Mr_Grieves]

October


Fixtures

I don't even know how to start explaining this month's results. A win at Falkirk as expected but then we went to Aberdeen and put 8 past the former force of Scottish football. Soon after one of our greatest wins we put in a drab performance in a defeat to Hamilton. I hate Hamilton!


SPL Table

Hearts assume control at the top of the table and a rejuvenate Hibs join us on 20 points with Celtic just behind. It looks like a "big 4" this season with Aberdeen out of the top 6 at this point and Rangers out of the relegation places by 1 point having their worst season to date.


Champions League

Ahh what could have been! We were leading at Anfield until former Celtic striker Tim Penfold scored twice the second with 3 minutes to go to end our 7 match unbeaten run in the champions league group phase.
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[Mr_Grieves]

November


Fixtures

In the league, we won all 3 games. Celtic fought us hard but we won convincingly against Hibs and destroyed city rivals Dundee.


SPL Table

Unbeaten Hearts are only 2 points clear at the top with Hibs just on our tails but Celtic have a bad month and are closer to Aberdeen now. Rangers still in the bottom 4 one point above 11th place.


Champions League

A big win in Zagreb had us all but in the last 16 and the win in France secured it.
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[Mr_Grieves]

December


Fixtures

A perfect return from our 7 games. Never did we even look like dropping a point. This is more than i can say for the rest of our title rivals.


SPL Table

We were 3 points behind Hearts at the start of the month and we end it 4 points clear with almost treble the goal difference. All of the top 6 have a bit of space in their current positions. Rangers are not in that list still down in 9th and were past the halfway point of the season.


Champions League

Liverpool secure top spot by beating our under 19s


Last 16 Draw
Dundee Utd vs Real Madrid

Porto was the only non-major side that was top seed but to draw a team we've beaten before gives us more hope than usual. Celtic also make the last 16. Hearts & Hibs won their Europa Conference groups while Rangers are out of Europe.
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[Mr_Grieves]

January


Fixtures

We picked up where we left off by beating Dundee in the league and cup and another win over Hamilton. THen out of nowhere Celtic tore our best 11 apart. WE've got Hibs next then 4 more games to pull the finger out and be ready for Real Madrid


SPL Table

Hearts are just a point behind now. Celtic had to win that game to have any hopes of the title. Rangers look to have finally sorted themselves out and are just about out of the bottom 6.


Transfer Window

The SPL has a midterm clear out with only Hearts and Celtic spending over £5m. Both sides of the old firm follow my lead in buying from South America


Dundee Utd

We sold two wingers and topped up the youth team.

In

Ezquiel Piedra - DL & Roberto Fernandez - MR

Newell's old boys donate their two top u20s with their contracts expiring they will come in to fill holes that the squads had all season


4 Youths join. 3 of them are strikers. I needed no strikers so in the summer unless Lionel Maradona with a guaranteed 10/10 is found i will not buy any strikers. The 4 starters in the first team may all have to go to make the space.

Out
The biggest sale of all time for Dundee Utd was my first signing at the club Carols Daveds. A superstar of a player and he was all set for a £30m move to China but he rejected both teams. With his heart set on a move, i tried to sell him but keep him till the summer but Salzburg was only going to take him now and for £25m i couldn't say no. Kevin Hill hard barely touched a ball this season and with an elite class of u18s coming through his time was up in the summer anyway so he was sold off here with a crazy fee from Reading. Graeme Baxter may be one to watch in the future. I didn't rate him but a few of the scouts were calling him great. No big clubs ever showed an interest making me more sceptical of his true ability.​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

February


Rangers find a run of form and then sack David McCracken after 7 seasons at the club & 1 Betfred cup for his efforts.

Fixtures

After getting thumped by Hibs and in doing so lost 2 games on the bounce we cleared up with 4 wins in the league as well as beating St Mirren in the cup. The biggest win was at home to title rivals Hearts where a 96th-minute winner by Bobianchi gave us the biggest 3 points of the season.


SPL Table

Hearts had a miserable month and have been passed by Hibs who are suddenly rivals for the title. 10 to go and they're only 4 points behind.


Champions League last 16 1st leg
Dundee Utd 1-0 Real Madrid

A great night but were not getting ahead of ourselves. I would hate to see our record in away legs during our near-decade of last 16 failures.​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

March


What a year for my former u18s manager. In less than 12 months he's moved to the big house!

Fixtures

3 wins from our 4 league game. I took Rangers with a caretaker manager too lightly and paid with the 3 points. No problems in the Scottish cup


SPL Table

A three way fight for the title this season with ourselves, Hearts and Hibs. All 3 of us are still in Europe! Rangers are the first old firm team not to make it into the top 6 after the spilt and i failed to see Falkirk having the worst season ever down the bottom.


Champions League Last 16 2nd Leg
Real Madrid 0-2 Dundee Utd
Dundee Utd win 3-0 on AGG

WE'VE DONE IT! A win in the last 16 and even more amazing we won both legs.


Champions League Quarter-Finals
Inter vs Dundee Utd

And we get the best draw possible for the quarter-finals.

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[MidKnightDreary]

Everything's coming up United!

 

[Mr_Grieves]

April


There is still one game left in April but i feel this is the best point to update the save before an insane end of the season.


Fixtures

Massive failures on the domestic front. Injury and fatigue knocked us out of the Scottish Cup as we ran out of steam against Hearts. A week later we threw away 2 points in our easest post spilt match after leading Dundee 3-1 we again ran out of gas at the end and Dundee grabbed a point with a 92nd-minute penalty


SPL Table

Three points split the top 3 with 4 games left we all have to play each other. In a bizarre turn of events, both capital clubs are playing in the European semi-finals during this final month of the season.


Champions League Quarter Final

1st Leg
Inter 2-2 Dundee Utd

A thrilling game in the Guiseppe Mezza stadium saw our hero Rodrigo Esteban give us a shock lead from the penalty spot before adding a 2nd away goal and tieing the game giving us the advantage for the 2nd leg

2nd Leg
Dundee Utd 1-0 Inter Milan
Dundee Utd win 3-2 on Agg

After an extremely tense 91 minutes just waiting for Inter to break our hearts they finally scored but it was for us so the celebrations begin as we have stunningly made it to the semi-finals.


Semi-Final Draw
Liverpool vs Dundee Utd

The Battle for group D before Christmas is now the battle to make it to the final. A real-life replay between Man City and PSG in the other tie.
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