Season 16 Review
Managers
3rd Summer in a row Celtic sack their manager. This time it was deserved. Henry not good in FM either so hopefully an upgrade for them next term.
Aberdeen Squad
Jorquera is my number one and a solid one at that. However next year he'll have competition so i envision the days of having a league keeper and a cup keeper to decided who stays for 2038/39
Three of the back 4 are more than solid starters for next season. Savage was a youth star for me at Hibs and Aberdeen bought well in bringing him north. Gallego was as good as he looked on the tin while Cardozo was a suitable sidekick that could move if i get a decent bid. Teenager Duncan Dixon will be here next year but another pre-summer signing from Man City's youth team may relegate one of our top youth prospect to the bench.
Despite only being in his mid-20s Varela seems to have lost a step and with Petersson not being overly impressive there might be work to do in the middle. The right-wing is so deep i'll need to sell someone but probably not Estay. Aroca was only supposed to be a temp ML and he played like it.
Up front we should be set. A big should be however. Sqiatek and Ruiz are both on massive wages but are two of the top strikers in the league. NOt sure i can justify the £63k a week they take up especially on Ruiz who is now 30, a dinosaur in my squads. Dunbar is a suitable backup but i wouldn't be in despair if he had to start if we do sell. The other striker is too young, not good enough or both at the moment.
I know we sold a few regulars but this is by far the least amount of players I've used in a season but also probably the most amount of teenagers I've played. More of the same next year.
My Player of the Season
Jhonnier Ruiz
The Columbian striker did most of his damage during Van Dijk's time at the club but he did more than enough before during and after to earn the teams player of the year
Final SPL Table
It looks closer than it was. Dundee Utd had Hibs at arm's length after the spilt while Hearts great run of form towards the end makes for an intriguing season next year with Dundee Utd not having me, Aberdeen having me and Celtic also changing manager. Rangers with a full season in John McGinns hands might be too much to ask for a 6-way title fight. Dundee comfortably won best of the rest and get a Europa Conference spot as a reward. St Mirren's season fell apart after their manager change. Hamilton was in no man's land all season while Ross County saved themselves with a charge over the last 12 games. Falkirk and Kilmarnock fought relegation together and Falkirk with their historically worst defence go down. 125 goals conceded. Christ!
Play-Off
Kilmarnock 2-1 Partick
Despite losing the first leg Kilmarnock survive to fight another season. They will get to fight Championship champions Motherwell for the bottom spot next term.
Europe
Dundee United followed my tradition and lost in the champions league last 16
Hearts got to the Europa League Q/F before losing 5-3 to Liverpool
Hibs went down a round earlier to PSV 3-2
Celtic had their worst European season in ages losing in the Conference 2nd Round to Hamburger
Aberdeen finished bottom of their Europa group and immediately sacked Van Dijk
Ross Couty was thrashed on the Conference playoff by Austrians St Polten
Rangers were our first European victims losing to Ufa in both games of their conference qualifier
Club Rankings
One year in the top 4 and its. a 9k point season that will haunt us for the next 5 years.
Embargo
As soon as i listed all the players i wanted to sell and had bids in on dozens of potential players i get this message.
It came to nothing of course