Saving Scottish Football 2021

[Mr_Grieves]

February


Hibs yet again refuse to build a new stadium so I've done what i can here and come June i'll be off to Dundee Utd

Fixtures

Another perfect month on the domestic front with only Hearts in the cup coming close to a result. March is as tough a month as you could have put together.


SPL Table

We should put one hand on the fourth title in a row if we avoid defeat against at least Celtic. Jesus Dundee Utd needs to pull their finger out. We may not be managing in the top flight if caretaker for a 5th time Adam Asghar doesn't pull his finger out!


Champions League

No changes to the annual champions league heartbreak it seems. We yet against played as well as the opposition but the result screwed us. Still, the home leg to go through. Maybe we can get one knock out win before i leave but if we don't it's my own fault for being too cavalier in the away leg.​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

March


Fixtures

A dodgy start against our nearest rivals losing without scoring but then turning around to thrash Aberdeen, Motherwell & Rangers.


SPL Table

The split is one game away and the gap is 9 points to the only remaining challenger in Celtic.


Champions League
Hibs 2-1 Inter
Inter win 3-2 on agg

Another last 16 defeat and as usual its as close as you could get without getting through. In the first 18 minutes, we had the tie level and i had 70 minutes to get that one goal that would have put us through. Sadly at the end of that 70 minutes, Inter grabbed the winning goal that ended my European hopes with Inter.
​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

Championship Group

We thrashed Celtic in the first game after the split so the title was secure so no reason for a big run in the post. Also, my mind has totally gone after the Champions League defeat. As you can tell i threw the games with Dundee Utd to give them a better shot at staying up.

The main thing was Dundee Utd waltzed to safety. They also have a Scottish cup final so there maybe Europe next season.


France

France also got their Euro 2032 group. Spain again!​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

Season 12 Review


Aberdeen sack Paul Clement

I wasn't even tempted. I saw they got a new stadium in 2031 so they are doing the business on their own. Hopefully, Hibs can go on to do the same once i leave.


Hibs Squad

Pantalacci had an easy season with the country's best back 4 in front of him. He also lost his bad habit of letting in goals when better teams have 3 shots on target etc.
My centerbacks were class. Balde & Stasiak were a class and settled combination. Young enough to improve their pace has helped against younger strikers. Scott Curley was mishandled by me. I should have used him over Janicic but I'm sure that will make the next Hibs manager a bit more money. Martinez stats look good but the rating is ****.
The middle is set for life Gilchrist is our captain. Thomas Thomas so good they named him twice is not as good as Ibrahim Almaraz so next season will be an interesting watch from up the road.
Franco Testi got the right-wing to himself and did not perform. Next managers problem. He was not helped by Ales Klesa perhaps being the best player i've had in the whole save. He's 19 and looks amazing already with almost an assist per game. Danny Fitzpatrick is waiting in the wings for his turn.
Were in a privileged position of having 3 of the leagues best strikers in the league all on long contracts. Only a fool would give them away.


My Player(s) of the Save

Lewis Gilchrist - MC
P199 G20 Ave 6.94

I'm very sad to be leaving behind Scotland best MC. My only hope is that the next manager does not move him to China for a paltry fee

Josh O'Conner - Att
P206 G186 Ave 7.55

The second reason i had to dive into the Hibs job. O'Conner has been totally underutilised at international level by Alex Neil. Will i cross paths with either of these guys again? I hope so!


Final SPL Table

We walked to a 4th and final title with Hibs while Celtic had their best season since 2026/27. Aberdeen was very meh. Huff and puff but never a danger. Rangers & Hearts are right on their tails and if we can get Dundee Utd up there it could be a fantastic fight in the top 6. St Mirren made the top 6 with the worst goal difference in the league. Hamilton & Kilmarnock tied at the bottom but the 6 goal difference saw Kilmarnock relegated and replaced with Ross County who won the league in record time. Hamilton get let off with a playoff.


Play-Off
Hamilton 4-1 Partick

Hamilton easily survive.


Scottish Cup Final
Dundee Utd 2-1 Rangers

For the 3rd job in a row, we take over the Scottish Cup winners who seem to think there suddenly Man Utd 1999


Club Rankings
Scotland had our best season ever.

Aberdeen joined us as we reached the last 16 as usual but Hearts got to the Europa League Semifinals that really helped the nation close up on Portugal.​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

Euro 2032



France squad

​

Here's the French team that is looking to do the double and add to our World Cup from 2 years ago. There are another 2 months in charge of France as i'll go after Olympic gold in August.

4 starters under 50 caps and 3 over 100 caps. The only change in the starting 11 from the world cup winners is DR Kamara


Group C


Match 1
France 4-2 Romania

We had a nervous few minutes when Romania pulled one back but we held on to secure the 3 points.

Match 2
Switzerland 2-5 France

That's the extended warm-ups out of the way. Now onto the main event.

Match 3
Spain 0-3 France

I've found the secret to beating Spain. Have an argument on Twitter with pathetic fanboys, forget you in the game look back an hour later and Boom!


Second Round
Holland 1-4 France

I felt robbed that Spain got to play Austria but the Dutch were a spent force. Denmark next


Quarter-Finals
France 3-1 Denmark

Mbappe scores a hattrick to drag us through to the semi-finals.


Semi-Finals
France 3-1 Italy

We dominated the game but Italy looked like they were going to rob us of the final but we came to life in the last 5 minutes and two goals secured our spot in the final


Your kidding. You have to be freaking kidding! a 121st-minute equalizer than a win on pens for a team that didn't even qualify for the world cup!

Final
Scotland 1-5 France

I put out my best team and told them to streach and attack my former side. I wanted to destroy them and i got my wish. At least all the youth upgrades I've been doing at Hearts, Hibs and Aberdeen are paying off with an improved Scottish side.


Olympic next was the plan but i can't seem to take charge of the u23s so on the day after the final i quietly quit the national team having won the two major titles. I'll only return to internationals if the Scotland job comes up.
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[Mr_Grieves]

Dundee Utd Season 12
Pre Season 2032/33


We've moved into Tannadice

Season Targets
SPL - 5th
Scottish Cup - Beat all sides out of the top 5
League Cup - Beat all sides out of the top 5
Europa League - Europe after Chrismas

The Old Firm, Capital teams and Aberdeen are levels above us right now so getting to 5th and being best of the rest is slightly ambitious but it's what we need to target, will only need one of the top 5 to have a stinker of a season.


SPL Pre Season Prices

Can't argue with the table. Hearts may be a bit disrespected but if Rangers can put it together they could challenge for the title. Cant say the same for Hearts. Aberdeen & Hibs both have new managers with Marko Nikolic coming from Lokomotiv & Jaap Stam comes over the pond from Cincinnati to manage Hibs. Really?

The Squad

As you may remember there is no transfer update with a new team since there is always massive amounts of changes. Even after a clear-out Dundee Utd have a massive squad so here's the assistants rating with some of our best players

The legend that is Dom Diego

170 goals in 7 seasons at Dundee Utd with only 6 finishing? Someone care to explain​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

August


Fixtures

Is this Hibs or Dundee Utd? we sneak past Hamilton before winning all 3 of our league games 4-0! We somehow lost in the cup to Motherwell.


SPL Table

A perfect start and a big lead in goals. Falkirk even more surprisingly is also ahead of the usual top 6 sides. Hibs haven't lost more than 4 games in 5 years.


Europa League Draw

Plenty of long trips. The top 3 go through so surely we can manage that.
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[Mr_Grieves]

September


Fixtures

Oh boy did we get kicked off our high horse quickly? Soundly beaten by Celtic then destroyed by Aberdeen. The counter tactic needs work!


SPL Table

We are still second but what on earth has consumed Falkirk? Hibs are having an utterly miserable translation to Jaap Stam. He'll be gone soon.


Europa League

A perfect start and against the two toughest opponents.​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

October


Fixtures

We seem to be stuck in a nasty spot at the moment where we can thrash all the teams out of the top 6, maybe get a result at home to them but we get utterly smashed by them if we travel to play them. Rangers were the latest major side to do this. We played defensively and still let in 5 goals.


SPL Table

Our season is still a rousing success 1/4 of the way in as we sit right on Celtic's tails but Rangers, Aberdeen & Hearts are right on our tails. Spare a thought for Ross County who have lost all 11 games scoring 6 goals along the way.


Europa League

We win what should be our easiest tie of the group. If we win in Azerbaijan then we're into the last 16.​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

November


Fixtures

3 games and 3 big wins over bottom half teams.


SPL Table

Were still a point behind Celtic at the top but the rest of the top 5 are right on their tails. Hibs down in 8th place with 13 points in 14 games. For god's sake sack Stam! Ross County get two wins


Europa League

We beat Qarabag to qualify then drew at Torino to secure the top spot with a game to spare.

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[Mr_Grieves]

December


Jaap Stam's reign of terror is over. Hibs will be tough to play again!

Fixtures

We played all 4 of our title rivals in less than a month and lost none of them taking a very respectable 8 points out of 12. Our first defeat in what feels like ages were in our most dominant performance of the season at home to Falkirk.

Explain how we lost this, please?

SPL Table

7 points split the top 5 and it really is anyone's league to win. Even if Hibs win our there title id probably gone being 22 points of league leaders and biggest rival Hearts. The Celtic & ourselves led the league at some point in Decembers shuffle.


Europa League

The weaker team still gets the win in our last game and we get a bye to the last 16.​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

January


Hibs have their new manager. Another questionable choice from the world of 2000s premier league stars.

Fixtures

Yikes, what a mess of a return we are having after that brilliant December. No shame in a draw with Hibs at Easter Road despite their form so far. The draw at Motherwell was a clear hand over from 210 minutes of Scottish cup action which eventually saw us knocked out by Hearts on penalties. We did thrash Dundee 6-1 so not a total bust of a month.


SPL Table

It was close before but look at the top 4 splits by 4 points. Rangers fall off the pace a little bit but are very much still in the hunt. What a season at the top!


January Transfer Window

5 signings all set to play a part in the first team for the second half of the season.

Gwion Allen - DR

About to be released by Man City we got him 6 months early for an utter steal of a price.

Midfield
Ted Greenidge ML, Yoni Solomon MR & Edgardo Sanchez MC

Greenidge & Solomon were transfer listed at their clubs at great value so i now have such depth at the wings as soon as i get a bid on either side i can move someone on and their replacement is there. Sanchez is a totally different story. He will be a starting MC with 3* already and a potential 5* player. There's always one waiting for you in South America

Attack
Emil Yousif

Transfers were made that your about to read about that left me a striker shot. Yousif was the only player on my Hibs shortlist interested in a move that made the sale of Dom Diego easier.


Out
How to make yourself popular. Join a club and sell their best player of the past decade. Dom Diego was supposed to be the one player i could totally rely on to lead the frontline. Turns out he wasn't even the best starting forward at the club. Was never comfortable with his shooting stats and nobody will pay more than Chinese teams so we sold him at the high of his value/ We should have all his future fee's in the next 12 months. 5 further squad players were moved on. You may have seen Bisland 7 Sneddon feature in season previews. Well, they fell well short of expectations and therefore were sold now as they were set to fall out of the 25 men 1st team squad.


SPL Transfers

Hibs spent less time selling my former super squad off but still gave away a few bargains. A real selling month for the title contenders with everyone losing a first-team starter. Rangers with the most recognisable loss of their lead forward for the past 3 seasons.​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

February


Fixtures

This will go down as the months of drawing to title rivals in thrilling games. Celtic lost 3-1 lead to end up with only a point while Hearts came from behind 4 times including in the 88th minute to get their point. We bossed Aberdeen but just couldn't get the second goal we deserved. Wins against the bottom two with weakened teams due to all the major games this month.


SPL Table

Nobody's pulling away and nobody's falling back. One more month till the split which i expect we'll all be tied on points for.

SPL & Dundee Utd's youngest ever scorer

I might not give as much Scottish youth a chance as they deserve but this kid deserves all the chances he can get and he took one to break one of the all-time SPL records.

Cammy Lauder-Smith

Europa League Last 16 Draw
Marseille vs Dundee Utd

There is no justice for winning that **** Europa Group


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[Mr_Grieves]

March


Fixtures

We easily saw off the three lower teams but were then destroyed by Rangers in a game we led 2-1 if you believe that. The Hibs game was massive as Henry had just dragged them into 6th place and needed a draw with us to secure their spot in the top 6 but we thumped them and amazingly the 4-time defending champions don't make the top 6!


SPL Table

The Rangers match gave Hearts back the lead in the league. Aberdeen looks out of it and that old firm draws pre spilt doesn't help or eliminate either side although a lot has to go right for Rangers to turn over effectively a 10 point gap.


Europa League

We took Marseille to extra time after two 2-1 games. Extra time with 10 men was too much for us and the traditional last 16 defeat followed.​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

Title Run in 2032/33


Match 34
Aberdeen 1-0 Dundee Utd

A late goal from my former captain Campaz puts a major dent in our title challenge. Thankfully Rangers almost beat Celtic but still held them to a point while Hearts drew their easiest game with 6th place St Mirren meaning very little change with non of the top 4 winnings.


Match 35
St Mirren 2-5 Dundee Utd

We do what Hearts couldn't and with them drawing with Celtic the gap ahead is down to 2 points while most importantly the gap to Celtic and dropping out of the Champions League is now 5 points.

Match 36
Dundee Utd 2-1 Rangers

The result does us no justice as we were the better team throughout the whole game. We turned down the gas after going 2-0 up with our closest rivals in our final 2 games. Hearts won easily to keep the gap at 2 points but Celtic will not finish higher than 3rd after losing at home to the mighty St Mirren.

Match 37
Hearts 1-0 Dundee Utd

The dream dies at Tynecastle. We totally deserved to win this game but in defeat, it crowns Hearts champions for the first time since 1960.

Match 38
Dundee Utd 3-4 Celtic

We played the kids with nothing to lose or gain and they almost got a result.​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

Season 13 Review


We're getting a new stadium!

I didn't even ask after a year of rejection by Hibs!


Dundee Utd Squad

Sean O'Shea was instantly our No1 and there is no reason to question that going forward. Arthur is more than good enough backup.
The defence relied on two loan players from the premiership Hajji was our best defender but Mackay had a poor second half of the season. ONly going to loan superstars next season. Brum and Kotora did a job but were open to selling them for an upgrade. In fact, Kotora was pants! Back up centre back Skreblin & Axelsson would not be a nightmare to start next season while Segavac will be definitely starting DR
Right-winger Daveds was my stand out player of the year. One of many gambles i took and one of the three that really worked out. A shame for Vasquez & Solomon who would start in every other position in the whole squad such as out the depth at MR. The other wing has been more of a problem. Homegrown Kevin Hill was a major let down with not even half the goals or assist that our starting right-winger produced. It's very likely Ted Greenige will start over him next year and Reece Bruce's time is probably up after getting plenty of chances for me here and at Aberdeen. In the middle, I'll have 4 MCs to choose from with the best of the lot joining in January to fight with Atchison & Varela for the regular starter. Novo & Pickering's time may be up with Edgardo Sanchez being the young star player.
We finished the season with 3 strikers Yousif & Mandanda were decent with about a goal per start but Rodrgio Esteban also managed to do better than a goal a game but was the stand out of the 3. Major job keeping him here and happy this summer


My Player of the Season
Rodrigo Esteban

It was between him and the Brazilian winger Daveds but in the end, i could not turn down the guy that scored 46 goals for us.


Final SPL Table

Hearts and Harry Maguire's ability to avoid defeat won them the league for the first time in several decades. We upset all the odds to be the closest challengers and Celtic were the only side close to being in the hunt towards the end of the season. Aberdeen beat Rangers to the Europa conference spot but both had below-par seasons. Hibs season was save to a degree by winning the Scottish Cup against Hearts on penalties to grab the final Europa League place after an awful start under Jaap Stam Henry couldn't even take them into the top 6. By far the biggest fall from a former team of mine. Hamilton & Ross County fought over automatic relegation and it was Hamilton who are relegated for the 4th time. This was their 5th SPL season in a row finishing in the bottom 2. Kilmarnock held on to replace them in the top flight next season.


Play-Off
Ross County 2-1 Dunfermline

Ross County hangs on for another season in the top flight.


We have a European title in Scotland!
Celtic 3-2 Valencia

A result totally deserved after beating Chelsea 6-5 on their way to getting a massive rating boost for Scottish teams!
Hibs finished bottom of a difficult Champions League group, Rangers got to the Europa Conference league knock out phase where Southampton knocked them out. Aberdeen somehow didn't get out of their conference group that featured Hammarby, Valerenga & CD Leganes



Club Rankings
Despite Celtic's success, we stay 7th​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

Dundee Utd Season 13
Pre Season 2033/34


Season Targets
SPL - Top 2
Scottish Cup - Beat all top 5 sides
League Cup - Beat all top 5 sides
Champions League - Europe after Christmas

We are still the 5th biggest club in Scotland but we prove last season that we could fight with the best of them. Unlikely we'll get 2nd again but I'd bite your hand off if you offered that today. Champions League is just for fun. I have no expectations that we can do anything there but if we can at least stay in one of the Europa competitions after Christmas I'll be happy.


SPL Pre Season Prices

Can Thierry Henry bring Hibs back to the top of the table with almost even money odds? Worrying that the champions Hearts are only 4th favourites while were we belong in 6th. Kilmarnock massive favourites to go down.


Dundee Utd Transfers

In

Dragos Ignat - DL

A generational left-back with 4 caps with Romania at only 19 years old. He ticks all the boxes but we had to pay a whopping £6.75m to meet his minimum fee.

Neville Stacey - MC

Rotting away in the Man Utd reserves after a loan to America he was forgotten by the football world. Not Dundee Utd who will have him leading them in the middle.


Fernando Ramos - MC

One issue with moving teams and rebuilding is forgetting who you signed 12 months earlier. No problems with Ramos who looks like a star in the making but its our deepest area of the side.


Youths

6 youngsters looking to make an impact.


Out
Our stand out sale was left-back Erik Kotora who was determined to leave after some big teams started making offers. He was disappointing last year so he can happily go off the top of the premiership. Somehow. 8 back up or youth players were let go along the way to clear some of the depth. Lots to go!​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

August


Fixtures

We kick off our league challenge where the save began at Aberdeen and got a point where last season we were usually convincingly beat. Rangers were our other top 6 opposition but proved no opposition and we easily won at Tannadice. We beat the two bottom-half teams and had an utter thrilled with our rivals from down the street eventually winning the league cup game 5-4.


SPL Table

Nobody has a perfect month, Rangers almost have the opposite. Hibs look to be back in the title picture tied at the top with us.


Champions League Qualifiers

We obliterated Rapid Wien twice and drew a very tricky playoff tie with Lille. I was surprised we went to France and got a draw but stunned by our second-half comeback in the home leg. We were 2-0 down 4-2 on aggregate before scoring 7 goals unanswered. Maybe Lille put their striker in goals? Anyways we knock out a team that has 3 of my former French players in the team. Mighty impressive


Champions League Draw

We'll need to be even more impressive after this draw. Anything above 4th will be a huge success. Hearts & Celtic get easier groups but thanks to Celtics Europa League win we have 3 teams in the Champions League group phase for the first time.


SPL Transfer Window

Hibs continue to clear out their squad as we see two of my most solid starters sold off to fund a triple transfer striker in early July. Hearts and Aberdeen both spend over £15m on a single-player as well as strengthening their squads. Rangers and Celtic particularly quiet. There was no further Action from Dundee Utd who didn't get a penny of the £13m group stage money to spend!​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

September


Fixtures

All things were good except for our two games with league Champions Hearts. They gave us our first domestic defeat of the season in the league then again 3 days later in the cup.


SPL Table

Hearts win over us gives former force Hibs the top spot. How bad was Stam! Aberdeen is this season's sad story. They do need a manager upgrade. I've no idea why they didn't when Marko Nikolic was on the brink last season.


Champions League

Two games in and it's not great. We have been roundly beaten twice. I probably got my tactics wrong in both games. It was far more fatal in the City game obviously. We must get a win against Roma to have any hopes of reaching the Europa League

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[Mr_Grieves]

October*


Fixtures

Probably my best month of results at United so far. We beat a top 6 team away from home then beat league leaders Hibs convincingly. 4-0 win against the two relegation favourites while we rested some of our starters.


SPL Table

We return to the top as the others around us drop points all over the place.


Champions League

Only one game in Europe this month but what a game. Not sure what Roma showed up here but we ran over them to make 3rd look far more likely than before kick-off. The away game should decide our fate.

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