Saving Scottish Football 2021

[Mr_Grieves]

January


Fixtures

We get back to league action and see an instant end to our clean sheet record, which ends at 13 games to Dundee after we had scored 6. And our unbeaten run as a new challenger for the league title may have emerged in Celtic who soundly beat us at Parkhead. WE got back to track beating Motherwell & Ross County with lots of rotation as well as a backup team trashing Stranraer in the cup.


SPL Table

Celtics 12 minute wonder start see's the gap at the top down to 9 points. Both old firm teams are in the Europa conference league so hopefully, we all have long European runs to deal with. At the bottom Ross County's new manager Kevin Thompson is doing a sounder job than Dundee Utd's Mark Warberton.


Transfer Window

Aberdeen features prominently as i threw out dozens of offers once I'd applied for the Hearts job and lucky for me the dons board stopped non of them. Rangers and Celtic lose more than they gain although the financed for the middle east and China are not to be frowned upon.


Aberdeen Transfer Window

In
First, I'll mention the HEarts purchases. No other way around it it's to help myself next summer. Hearts did let John Rankin spend £3m of that sadly. Probably 4 more players I'll need to offload in 6 months' time.


With this being my final 6 months at Aberdeen i wanted to make sure i gave myself the best chance possible of winning all 4 trophies so i made possibly my first two superstar signings. Both are naturally young so hopefully, Aberdeen can still bring in a profit when they move them on.

Alberr Berrnaert - MC

After our two starters Langoni & Campaz there was a massive drop off for Beernaert who i hope i can play in Europe will help us against the better teams where i'll need 3 in the middle.

Tommaso Mazzotta - DC

One of Italy's best prospects at DC joins the Dons. Unlike midfield, we had no clear option at DC alongside Valenti. Wharton does not look like he'll ever be good enough to start and Gonzalez is progressing well but for this season i need an upgrade for the squad's weakest spot.


Youths

Two youngsters for the next manager's ever-growing list of future superstars.


Out
Once i had signed the Hearts deal on January 3rd i could not control and transfers and the worst part of that was they accepted as pitiful £19m for our best forward Tadic. Made more amazing that they rejected offers of over £40m for Campez & Valenti​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

February


Fixtures

Amazingly the only game we had trouble with was the home game to Dundee Utd in the cup where we firmly got the job done in the 2nd leg. We got past St Mirren in the Quarterfinals although not to convincing there either. The league was 3 walkovers.


SPL Table

Rangers & Celtic dropped points at every match week, ok it was Rangers every week but 1 but tat 1 was Celtic losing to St Mirren. Tidy little team Alex Neil has down there.


Rangers sack Goncho!

The blue half of the old firm has been so bad that their manager lost the league with 96 points just last season.


Europa League

Last 32
Aberdeen 5-2 Ajax

We thumped them up at Kingsford. This could have been the score at half time we were on rare form!


Last 16 Draw
Aberdeen vs Man City

What in the blue **** are they doing here! Well, they only finished 6th in the premiership last season 2 years since winning the Champions League under Marcelo Bielsa. Thomas Tuchel since took over. They have spent over £1b. With that, the squad is elite in 8 positions. Then a big drop off.

 

[Mr_Grieves]

March


Rangers have their latest obscure appointment.

Fixtures

If you thought our processional run was coming to an end well not against the non-old firm teams. Hibs ran a full team of backups closes. It's almost certain we'll drop points against the old firm somewhere in there.


SPL Table

Celtic will be hoping that the Rangers can beat us up before we play 3 days late. The gap going into the break could vary from 8 to 17 points going into the split.


Europa League Last 16
Aberdeen 9-3 Man City

So this is why City are in the Europa League! At no point in the Kingsford game did they look much better than St Mirren. Their only goal was Vinicius tapping home the rebound from his penalty as we took a 5 goal advantage to the Emptyhad where we beat them for the second week in a row despite losing a key starter the night before both games.


Europa League Q/F

Crisis for Klippybo!


Scotland

Friendly defeat to Greece is a worry with the world cup only 3 months away!​

 

[MidKnightDreary]

Great work, but did you mean to put the same picture in twice?

 

[Mr_Grieves]

Great work, but did you mean to put the same picture in twice?

Ha! Nope. Serves me right for watching the Watford game, Royal Rumble & FM at the same time was a mistake

 

[Mr_Grieves]

April

5 Games in the first half of April will decide our season. Celtic twice, Bilbao twice, and Rangers

Fixtures

It started off great and peaked too soon. We easily saw off Rangers and Celtic to secure the League title

Aberdeen 4-2 BIlbao

We then won the Europa League quarter-final first leg despite playing the whole second half with 10 men


Celtic 1-0 Aberdeen
Our rush for 4 trophies then came to a screeching halt. We lost to Celtic after missing a penalty and having a 91st-minute goal disallowed. Stoppage time goals would rob us of another shot at a trophy with Bilbao knocking us out with a 92nd-minute goal that gave them the win on away goals.


Bilbao 2-0 Aberdeen
Bilbao win on away goals

5 pointless games left for me at Aberdeen. The only thing to do is to try to win each game by as much as possible to set the SPL records as high as possible.​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

Season 6 Review


Aberdeen Squad

Carlos Fernandez played every game for us all 59 of them. I Will miss the solid former Atletico u19
Fabio Pina has not hit the levels of Calvin Ramsey who i should have played more. At left-back, Maggi & Maury will be a debate for the next manager. Both are great prospects. The centerbacks Valenti & Mazzotta will be superstars at CB for the dons with reasonable depth Wharton & Gonzalez.
In the middle, i leave the Dons with 3 superb starting MC in Campus, Langoni & Beernaert. Mochrie & McGeouch are in the squad but plenty more coming through, The wings are overflowing Castillo & Roberts might not be the best but they play the best hence why they never get replaced despite Dembele & Serrano joining in the past few seasons.
Upfront Selles is my goat. Fresh off copying Henrik Larsson by scoring 53 goals in a season, more than double anyone else in the squad. Dominguez took over from Tadic once Bayern bought him. We have half a dozen players behind them desperate for their chance.


My Player of the Save
Calvin Ramsey

The only man who survived from day 1. He played 196 times for the Dons and we have not seen the last of him since he's Scotlands starting DR


Final SPL Table

We needed to win the record points score and of course, Rangers had to ruin that too.

Dundee Utd pulled off a miracle to get out of the bottom 2 Ross County go right down. Best of all my next team Hearts won the Scottish cup beating Celtic on Pens to secure a Europa League spot. Don't feel so annoyed about losing that Semi now.


Play-Off
Raith 3-2 Hamilton AET

Jack Aitchison the one-time Celtic wonderkid scored Raith's biggest goal in almost 30 years to get them back to the top flight.


Rankings

Scotland jumps Russia into 8th Portugal & Holland are in our sights if Aberdeen & the Old Firm have good seasons.


National team ranking - 40th

No change but I'm sure the world cup will sort that out​

 

[MidKnightDreary]

You think you know me?

Good luck at Hearts!

 

[Mr_Grieves]

World Cup 2026


Squad​

9 players over 50 caps and with Robinson now 32 and 5 other starters in their 30s this squad at best has the 2028 Euro's and this will be its last World Cup


Warm-Up games

Worrying that we could only draw with Guinea with a tougher African team waiting for us in the tournament


Match 1
Scotland 3-0 Senegal

We make a dominating start to the campaign. Backups for Qatar!

Match 2
Qatar 1-4 Scotland

Changes all over the place and this one was safe by half time. Have we found a gem in Kieran Cormack?

Group

Winners of the easiest groups meaning were seeded for the next round


Second Round Draw
France vs Scotland

Yep, France somehow finished behind Ivory coast so we get a ******* of a draw.

France 3-0 Scotland

We played brilliantly and the score was an utter insult to how we played. If Gilmour puts away that penalty though!


Final
Spain 2-0 England

A double in the last 15 minutes from Mikel Oyarzabal secured Spains 2nd world cup. He's still at Real Sociedad and at 29 will probably see out his prime days there.


Romania was the best upset team, Argentina was the biggest flop going out like us in Round 2, it was to Germany however.​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

Hearts Season 7
Pre Season 2026/27


Were in the door and the second rebuilding job begins

My replacement is a bit underwhelming

Season Targets
SPL - 4th
Scottish Cup - Beat all sides out of the top 3
League Cup - Beat all sides out of the top 3
Europa League - Group phase

The Old Firm and Aberdeen are levels above us right now so getting to 4th and being best of the rest is the least i expect


SPL Pre Season Prices

The bookies think we should be finishing 4th so that's in line with my thoughts. Aberdeen mega odds on with 8 players in the league's best 11. Hearts have nobody.


Transfer Window

Aberdeen spent very little after selling Roberts, Dominguez & Maggi. Ranges made the biggest sale in Miguel Echeverria. Celtic like Aberdeen cleared out 3 of their top players with uninspiring moves.


Hearts Transfers

We've added 16 players to the team and it's hardly worth going through the moves when i can just show off the other 10 players in the squad.


GK

No changes here. Robbie Mutch was one of Heart's best players when i joined. He's Scotland no2 despite never getting a cap. Preston is my usual *** back up.

Wing Backs

Were very heavy on the left win with only Ralston a recognized RB. Sani cost the big bucks but he will have Walter Perez & Semple as direct competition. Best man plays.

Center Back

We were in a great spot a week before the season started till Chelsea nicked Kyle Williamson. Were still looking good though. Palacios & Hogg are slated to be my starters by my old friend Wil Reddie from Aberdeen will be looking for favoritism while Ross Ogg is a wonderkid, in the Scottish game at least.

Center Midfield

After a one-year absence, Ross McCrorie is back in my squad. He will play with Dons loane Chris Mochrie in the big games while my recruits Juan Santos & Eder Quiroz will play the rest of the time. Inherited players David Turnbull & Ali McCann will struggle for game time unless we have a good run in Europe.

Wingers

New signings Ramon Donayre & Humberto Noverca is my planned starters but youngster Dominik Zahn & Sinisa Vasijevic will get their chance to impress and start too while the previous regimes signing of Nathan Young-Coombes will hopefully see a return in money in 6-12 months time.

Forwards

When i joined this strike force was worse than any I've had at Aberdeen and it's not really been improved till the last few days. Cordoba is our record signing and will be vital for any success we have this season. i was struggling so badly to get a forward i liked i ended up loaning Christian Erdl to partner him. After that it's bleak! Connor McBride and Josh Keyode led the line last year. We'll only see them in emergencies. They're awful!

Youngsters

Only two u18s of note to bring up. Scott the LB and Erol the MC.


Out
We moved on 39 players this summer! the two players we lost that i had hoped to keep were Mickey Johnston & Kyle Williamson. Williamson was our best youth prospect but the previous regime decided to put a piddle £3.2m min fee on him and he would not negotiate a new deal so i lost him for pennies with no sell-on fee. The rest were not fit for purpose.​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

August


Fixtures

The domestic campaign started off with a huge win . Nathan Coombes shames my pre season shade by scoring his first of two hattricks in his first month at the club. We ran Rangers close at Ibrox losing by the odd goal. Ross County was dismantled in the cup & Kilmarnock then along came relegation favorites Raith Rovers and you guessed it fresh from resting players in the Europa League my first team that has been thumping the leagues other teams could not find a goal here.


SPL Table

Despite this being a total rebuilt squad we are in the top 4. Raul Palacios is our lead goalscorer as my back up penalty takes and a general big man at the back post.


Europa League Qualifier
Hearts 7-1 Servette

We thrashed the Swiss side in the first leg and added another goal to our advantage and we go right into the group phase. Ambitions hit!


Europa Group Draw

We avoid all the big teams. Not sure who is the biggest danger here.


Transfer Window

Rangers and Celtic buy. Aberdeen sell!


Hearts

We grab a loan from Roma, should have got a DR but we have another winger & forward.

​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

September


Fixtures

We started poor and got better through each game. Aberdeen played the whole second half with 10 men but easily saw us off. We still looked rattled in the St Mirren game where we dropped another 2 points. We were even worse against Dundee Utd in the cup but came on strong in extra time to reach the semi-finals then thrashed them in the league. Hopefully, we're all starting to get used to each other and October can bring more reliable results by the time we play Hibs back to back.


SPL Table

My aim of top 4 is in jeopardy due to the Hibs batch of U23 year old players. I knew that was the best job to go to after Aberdeen but no sign of it coming up soon.


Europa League

Hearts first Europa League group phase got underway with a thumping win over Dinamo Zagreb, The scoreline flattered us. Hertha Berlin is a step too far. We were never out of the game but their class going forward showed with 10 of their 11 shots on target.


Scotland

A heartbreaking defeat to Germany after we led from the 17th minute all the way to the 87th when Bentrup equalized then in the 95th minute won the game. Switzerland was less of an issue. We beat them 5-0.​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

October


Fixtures

We firmly turn the corner in October. Dominated Celtic for our first win against the big 3 before Motherwell, Livingston were beaten, one far worse than the other. Back to back Edinburgh Derbys saw us win in the league with a late winner before the big one. The League cup semi-final our 7th domestic win in a row. Rangers await in the final.


SPL Table

Aberdeen leads the way unbeaten and dominant as ever. Our stunning last month see Hearts split the old firm with the unwanted Nathan Coombes 3rd top scorer in the league.

Europa League

Only one game in October and we beat the worst team in the group.

Scotland

Was this the greatest month in Scottish football? The German league is fully loaded so no reason for them being awful. Two games away to Holland and then away to Switzerland and we could get into the finals incredibly.​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

November


Fixtures

The amazing run goes on. We swept past Rangers, had a very FM21 game with Dundee and Killie was also no match for us.


SPL Table

Amazingly despite not losing for almost 3 months were still 3rd and 3 points off Celtic & 7 points ahead of the imperious Dons. Rangers are floating about in 4th.


Europa League

Back to back 5 goal wins secure our place in the knockout phase a great overachievement. We'll be playing full team against Hertha to go for the top spot.


Scotland

We won the first game against a hopeless Switzerland but could only draw in Amsterdam. It was all going well till Jack Waterston got sent off on his debut.​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

League Cup Final 2026
Rangers 1-1 Hearts AET
Rangers win 4-1 on Pens

We could have won our first trophy at Hearts in our first final 4 months into the job but the world is just not ready for Hearts holding both Scottish Cup trophies. No goals in the first 90 minutes meant extra time. We took the lead for about 13 minutes but Rangers Tsitaishivlli first got the game level then ended the game with the final penalty in our desperately disappointing defeat.​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

December



Fixtures

After the League Cup loss, we had a dismal result against St Mirren. A big win against Dundee Utd was a short rest bite before the top two both beat us in games we could have got something. The month was bookended with narrow wins over sides we have been steamrolling.


SPL Table

Our title rivals are no longer our title rivals after they both beat us by the odd goal and were now too far back to worry about that and worse we now have a rejuvenated Rangers in our mirrors. January will be a tough month. Cash in on players was the plan and having overachieved in Europe it's likely what I'll do but it's tempting to try to make us a bit better to be in a position to challenge if the top 2 get any issues.


Europa League

We win the group and win the bye to the last 16!

​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

January


Fixtures

The winter break could not have come at a better time. We were clearly running out of gas so i only played one friendly before getting back to Scottish action and boy did we get going. Beat Livi twice in a week in League & Cup. Utterly thrashed Hibs and Dundee before going to Ibrox and winning in the fight for 3rd game.


SPL Table

Battle for 3rd! Mate, you're ahead of Celtic for 2nd! Must look at the table before writing stupid things around the fixtures. Aberdeen have bolted and the league is there's undoubtfully


Transfer Window

Hearts

5 new recruits 3 go into the first team. Two deadline days moves for the u18s. We sold Kyle Semple who was asking for a move and dropping further down the depth chart. The other 3 were in the reserves and finally figured out i had no plans to ever use them.

In
DL Fabio Dominguez, DR Paolo Rodriguez

They are basically the same player except for ones for the left and ones for the right. Both will get their chances, Rodriguez on the right more so.

GK Arkadiusz Jablonski

I need a keeper but forgot I've got 2 arriving in the next 12 months so the Pole better get his value up quickly before the summer.

Two Youths

SPL

Aberdeen continues to sell off their best players and bought nobody. They have made £190m in player sales since i left. Rangers make money from selling to China again and buy two former EPL players with the returns. Celtic add an ex-Arsenal prospect.


​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

February


Fixtures

Well, that was a humdinger of a month lads! The only time i even raised my voice was the u18s going behind against Edinburgh City but a few subs from the first team turned that potential disaster around. We Also got past Hibs and in over a month's time, we'll play Celtic in the Semi-Finals. Aberdeen & Rangers are out so that's our best shot at a trophy. Speaking of my former Dons we had my best result since leaving them in the summer as to beat the previously unbeaten Aberdeen 5-3 twice letting go a lead to eventually win. Gaps down to 9 points but Aberdeen have only dropped 9 points in the first 28 games so we're not going nuts with a title challenge.


SPL Table

The reality is we now have a smashing shot at 2nd place. Rangers are 10 points back so anything outside the top 3 from here would be a disaster


Europa League Last 16 Draw
Bayern vs Hearts

No hope here for Scotland's last team standing.​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

March


Fixtures

Losing to Celtic is bad. Losing to Celtic at home in our current predicament is a disaster that will close the gap. Even worse we had a game in hand at Dundee Utd and somehow from a 4-2 lead we drew 5-5.


SPL Table

We are still 2nd but only 2 points ahead of Celtic now and Rangers have sneaked back into it. Ever get that sinking feeling of two sharks chasing your tail? Dundee Utd are firmly the best of the rest this year. Raith and live are joined surprisingly by Motherwell for the relegation battle. The rest of the updates will come from the championship group after the split.


Europa League Last 16

1st Leg
Bayern 4-1 Aberdeen

As expected we were no match for the Germans

2nd Leg
Hearts 2-0 Bayern
Bayern win 4-3 on agg

Will i ever go out of Europe by more than 1 goal? A brilliant fightback for the boys. We kept a clean sheet with 9 men. This ends a dismal year in Europe for Scottish teams. Aberdeen went out at the Europa last 32, Celtic finished bottom of their group and Rangers didn't even get through the Europa League qualifying.


Scotland

Two games in and as expected it looks like it will come down to two games with Norway to decide who wins the group. 2nd place should be enough to qualify to judge by what we're up against.​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

Championship Group Split


Scottish Cup Semi
Hearts 1-1 Celtic
Hearts win 4-2 on pens

It took over 120 minutes to split the favorites but we get the same result as last year's final. This will also be the 3rd year in row aside from Edinburgh will win the cup after Hearts won in 2026, Hibs in 2025.


Match 34
Aberdeen 4-2 Hibs

Title day in Aberdeen their 4th title in a row. We had a great opening to get a result 2-1 down and against 10 men but Aberdeen showed their class and scored two more to secure the title. 3rd and 4th also played each other and Celtic also got a big win that moves them into 2nd and the champions league spot.


Match 35
Hearts 3-0 Rangers

We did the business putting out our best performance for a while to have Rangers beat by halftime. Celtic also won so no change in the fight for 2nd.


Match 36
Hearts 1-1 Hibs

This is the result i expected in the Scottish cup final but with Aberdeen playing half-assed since winning the title and Celtic on a long winning run, top 2 looks goosed thanks to our player of the year.

Match 37
Hearts 4-2 Dundee

We held up our end this time. Aberdeen however did not. They have been awful since winning the league and Celtic got 3 points off them. WE can still beat Celtic to second. Thanks to our goal difference all we need to do is beat them at Parkhead.


Match 38
Celtic 1-0 Hearts

We went toe to toe and for most of the game outplayed Celtic but their a touch of talent produced a goal of the season candidate which was the difference between Hearts being in the Champions League qualifiers and Celtic. Never mind 1st season in and we've beaten Rangers in that table. Celtic can wait another year.​