Sparta Rotterdam

[Jedd95]

Sparta Rotterdam

Sparta Rotterdam are the oldest professional football club in the Netherlands. Nicknamed Kasteelheren (The Castle Lords), they are currently languishing in the second division of Dutch football after relegation from the Eredivise last season. They haven't won the top division since 1959.

My aim is to take this club to the top. I want to beat the big boys Ajax, Psv, Feyenoord and make Sparta the team to beat. Feyenoord and Excelsior are Sparta's fierce city rivals.

I hope to nurture the youth players in this side whilst remaining competitive, and hopefully I can produce some world class talents for the dutch national team.

I have set myself a 5 year target to win the Eredivise.​

 

[Jedd95]

Sparta Rotterdam

Season One: 2018/19

League:

The board expected us to finish mid table in the League this season, something I always thought was very achievable with the talented players at the club. The mix of experience and young talent excited me for what was to come, however I never expected to have such a successful season.

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As you can see we absolutely walked the League, winning it with a 23 point margin over 2nd place. We lost only 2 games all season, including our final game, something I am very happy with. It shows the real steal and determination in this young squad.

Victories such as 4-0 vs Ajax Jong, and 5-1 over PSV Jong a particular highlight as they fielded a few first team players in their squads on the day but they could not hold us back.

We will be playing football in the Eredivise next season!

Dutch Cup:

The board expected us to reach the third round which we managed. Unfortunately we were knocked out by Heracles Almelo who play their football in the division above, the Eredivise. It was a hard fought game but ended in a 4-6 defeat that I am sure thrilled the fans and the neutrals.

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Key Players:

Lars Veldwijk and Tomas Verhaar formed a formidable strike partnership with 39 goals in 60 games between them, firing us to the title and many important victories. Young players Ragnar Ache (10 goals, 23 games) and Deroy Duarte (8 goals, 27 games) both impressed when called upon. I am hoping they can progress some more next year.

Gregor Breinberg in central mid, Giliano Wijnaldum at left back and Dries Wuytens in central defence were all forces to be reckoned with. They have been absolute rocks in my side this year.

At last a big shout to Elayis Tavsan whom I plucked from the youth side upon joining. He has successfully retrained to Right midfield and had a fantastic season for us. I am hoping for big things from him. He finished runner up in the Young Player of the Year award.

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League Awards:

Manager of the Year: Me
Player of the Year: Giliano Wijnaldum
Top Goalscorer: Lars Veldwijk
Young Player of the Year: Deroy Duarte

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A great season for personal success as well as team success. I am thrilled with the way we have played and am thoroughly excited for the future with this team.​

 

[Jedd95]

Sparta Rotterdam

Season Two 2019/20

League:

The board expected us to finish mid table in our first season in the Eredivise. I was hoping to do just the same, maybe pushing for the top half of the League dependent on how things went. I never expected us to win the division.

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What. A. Season. Wow.

I cannot describe the rush of this season. We ran away with the League early on and never looked back. Just 1 defeat in 20 odd games saw us sitting pretty at the top of the League with a 6 point gap between us and Psv after beating them 3-2 at home, but then came the month of February...

5 games against teams all in the top 8 in the League. Just 1 win in the 5 games with 2 draws and 2 defeats hit us badly. A 3-2 defeat vs Psv meant they drew level on points with us, and a draw vs Ajax in our next game meant they pulled away. By the end of Feb. we were 5 points behind a Psv team bang in form.

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However, we kept up the challenge for the next few games and, little known to me, Psv had near enough the same run of games as we had. They came out badly losing 4 of their 7 games at the end of the Season. We capitalised, took top spot back and won the League by a comfortable 6 points.

A thrilling end to a season and one that I cannot quite believe. To have won the League at my first attempt is magnificent and something I never saw happening. What a great squad we have assembled at this team.

Dutch Cup:

The board expected us to reach the third round again, which we did, but alas no further again as we crashed out to a strong Psv side early on.
The game was very well fought and I actually think we should have come away with the result, but at least we got revenge by winning the League! Hopefully next year we can out do our constant third round duct.

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Transfers:

After making no signings last season I decided to freshen up the squad.

Fanktay Dabo had his loan move made permanent after a strong season at Rb and Luca Viganli joined the side on a free also, the centre midfielder came in to add competition in the middle.

Schwede, Steininger and Delorge came in on loans because I was struggling to find players to sign for our limited budget, but they all performed admirably. Steininger scoring some very important goals throughout the season.

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Jeong Woo-Yeong comes in from Bayern to replace Elayis Tavsan who unfortunately had his minimum release clause met (teams in European Competition) and left us for West Ham. He had been having a magnificent season up to that point (17 assists, 3 goals in 18 games) and I was thoroughly disappointed. Woo-Yeong more than stepped up for the remainder of the season however (9 assists, 4 goals in 14 games).

Dirk Proper was signed for £400k from NEC as he shows a lot of potential. Greve and Preissinger joined the team for cover incase of injuries.

Tomas Verhaar left the club in February after failing to live up to last seasons heights and forcing a move through. Spierings and Dervisoglu did the same in the summer, demanded moves to bigger clubs. Spierings finished 8th this season... so good move for him...

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Key Players:

Koen van der Winden came through the youth team and immediately joined Dries Wuytens in the heart of our defence. They formed a formidable partnership helping us to win the league. I am hoping for big things from this lad, if we can keep hold of him. Giliano Wijnaldum was again fantastic on the left side of our defence.

Breinberg was again sensational in the heart of our midfield as was Veldwijk up top scoring 19 goals in the league. Ragnar Ache had a fantastic season overthrowing Verhaar before he left, with 18 goals in 25 games.

Tavsan was our key player before he left but Jeong Woo-Yeong was great when he came in to replace him and helped steady the ship I had expected to sink.

Vignali joined Breinberg in centre midfield and was a sensation for the team, returning with 2 goals and 9 assists in 28 games.

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Awards:

Manager of the Year: Me
Goalkeeper of the Year: Roy Kortsmit (32 games, 13 clean sheets)
Golden Boot: Giliano Wijnaldum (31 games, 6 assists)
Young Player of the Year: Elayis Tavsan

Tavsan won the YPotY despite leaving the club in January. That's how good he had been for us this season. Wijnaldum wins Golden Boot/Best Player for second season in a row as do I with Manager of the Year. Lars Veldwijk missed out on top Goalscorer by 1 goal, despite playing 7 games left than Vietesse player Buitink who finished with 20 goals.

The side ran away with Young Player award, all 3 places taken by young players from our squad. Great season from the young lads.

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A fantastic season and I cannot wait for next year with Champions League football coming to Het Kasteel.​

 

[Jedd95]

Sparta Rotterdam

Season Three 2020/21

Transfers:

Some key players joined the squad in the summer. Taylor Moore, Freddy Woodman, Lucas Zander & Allan all join the club on free transfers. I am very excited about Moore, Woodman & Allan who I hope can take us to the next level. Allan is an absolute steal from Liverpool.

I completed a deal for Mason Greeenwood on loan for the season, and Leonardo Antunes joins for £180k to boost our striking options.

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Super Cup:

The season kicked off early with a game against Psv, and a chance for silverware. Unfortunately Psv pipped us to the trophy on penalties after a thrilling 3-3 end to end game. Definitely one for the neutrals. I am not to disappointed as this never mattered to the Board, but would of been nice to open our trophy account early.

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League:

The board expected us to finish in the top half, despite winning the title last season. I was hopeful we could remain in the top 3 and keep the Champions League position in our grasp. However, we did much better.

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We retained our Eredivise title! I cannot believe it.

We started the Season off fantastically with wins such as 5-0 against Excelsior and 1-0 away to Psv, and never looked back. In the end it was very comfortable and I am very proud of the team. To only lose 2 games all season is something we can be very proud of too, despite them coming against our rivals Excelsior (1-0 away), and Feyenoord (5-3 home).

A convincing 3-0 away to Ajax was a special moment.

Champions League:

The board expected us to make the group stages of the Champions League, which we already had. We were drawn in a group of death: Manchester United, Napoli & CSKA Moscow. I had optimism going into the groups but I did not expect miracles.

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We gave a good account of ourselves but in the end we only managed 3rd place. I am very happy about this however as it means we drop into the European Cup and have a chance at more European football this season - to have crashed out all together, like CSKA, would have been a big disappointment.

We opened the group with a 3-2 loss at Home to Manchester United, followed by a 2-2 draw at Home to CSKA (I was very annoyed with this result). An Away trip to Napoli ended with a great 2-2 draw with the much needed points, but our next game was a 5-1 thrashing at Old Trafford on the return leg vs Man Utd. The team never really showed up and they bossed the game from start to finish.

We entertained Napoli in a 3-2 win at Het Kasteel, our only group stage win! Goals from Veldwijk, Allan & a 90th minute Mason Greenwood volley getting us all 3 points. CSKA signed off the group with a spirited 3-2 victory against us, but it wasn't enough for them to make it into 3rd place thankfully!

Dutch Cup:

The board expected us to reach the elusive third round again this season, but I was determined to make it further.

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We won the Dutch Cup! We drew Psv in the third round, a repeat of last season and I feared the worst, but thankfully we managed a solid 1-0 victory. We then swept past PEC Zwolle (2-0 home) and Ajax (4-2 away) to set up the final vs Willem who we comfortably dispatched after a brace from both Greenwood and Veldwijk in the final. I am very happy at this piece of silverware.

Euro Cup:

After the disappointment of crashing out of the Champions League I was just looking forward to extra experience for the lads for the next few seasons. We played some great football and proved lots of people wrong.

First we drew Eintracht Frankfurt and we knocked them out 4-2 on aggregate over the 2 legs, with a 3-1 victory in the second leg sealing the win. Veldwijk, Greenwood and Proper with the goals to see us through on the night.

We dispatched Club Brugge 7-2 on aggregate in the next round followed by a 5-0 aggregate victory over SLB in the quater finals. A brace from both Greenwood & Antunes finished the tie away at Benfica in a 4-0 victory in the first game.

A huge 4-2 aggregate victory vs Porto sent us to the final vs Liverpool.

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WE LIFTED THE EURO CUP! ABSOLUTE SCENES!

We put in a real graft performance vs Liverpool, who were the more dominant side. However the pace and finishing of Greenwood on the break put them to the sword and in the end the scoreline looks comfortable.

Transfers:

In January we signed Pedro Amador (left back) for a small fee in the hope he can provide competition with Giliano Wijnaldum. Nissen Kristensen joins the club for a record £1.4m fee and looks like a fantastic player. The strong Rb will tie down that spot for years to come. Teixeira joins to provide width and cover for both wings, I am excited about the hardworking player.

Duarte was allowed to leave after falling down the pecking order. The youngster Dirk Proper is keeping him out of the team.

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Key Players:

Freddy Woodman was fantastic, making 55 appearances, keeping 23 clean sheets, with some huge saves in our Euro Cup victory run. Van der Winden was fantastic again in the heart of our defence, the 6ft 6' youngster was a rock.

Jeong Woo-Yeong was fantastic on the Right side of midfield with 23 assists, 7 goals in 48 games. I have also managed to extend his loan for a further year into next season! Vignali and Allan were sensational in central midfield forming a solid partnership.

Leonardo Antunes (16 goals, 39 games) and Mason Greenwood (49 goals, 51 games) were unbelievable, keeping Lars Veldwijk (16 goals, 34 games) to a mainly substitutes role all season. Greenwood was next level and is a large part of why we won the Euro Cup - I have managed to extend his loan for a further season. Thank goodness!

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Awards:

Manager of the Year: Me
Goalkeeper of the Year: Freddy Woodman (34 games, 17 clean sheets)
Top Scorer: Mason Greenwood (31 games, 29 goals)
Young Player of the Year: Jeong Woo-Yeong (30 games, 6 goals, 15 assists)

Mason Greenwood was sensational. His goal tally has fired us into a new level. We once again occupied the 3 Young Player spots (Woo-Yeong, Mason Greenwood & Brad van Hoeven completing the top 3.

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News:

Training facilities upgraded to great.
Youth facilities in process of being upgraded.
Plans also announced to build a new stadium but no new information as of yet.

I am very excited for next season with this team. I hope to push the team forward in the Champions League, the squad is very special and I am hopeful we can progress. Finishing the season with a famous treble (League, Cup & Euro Cup) is something very special for the club and fans.​

 

[Jedd95]

Sparta Rotterdam

Season Four - 2021/22

Pre-Season Transfers

Mason Greenwood & Jeong Woo-Yeong agreed 12 month extensions on their loan deals, after fantastic Seasons last time out.

The main signings are as follows: young Portuguese midfielder Mario Pinho joined from Rio Ave for £3.1m, Max Wober from Ajax for £2.1m, to bolster our defence, and Sven Kunert signed on deadline day for £3.3m from RB Leipzig. I have high hopes for these 3 young players.

Charlie Taylor joins from Fulham for £1.2m to occupy our Left back slot. Blackwell is a signing for the future with high potential but no where near the current squad as of yet. Moyano, Chong & Zaccagno are all signed as cover for the first team.

A few players such as Kortsmit and Bart Vriends are sold after falling down the pecking order.

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Super Cup

After the success of last Season we were pitted against Psv for the curtain opener, and an early chance at silverware. Unfortunately Psv won the tightly contested affair on penalties at the end of the 90 minutes, with the scores level at 1-1. Teixeira and Nissen Kristensen with the heartbreak misses from the spot. We will move on quickly.

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Euro Super Cup

We were entered into the Euro Super Cup after winning the Europa Cup last time out. Pitted against last Seasons Champions League winners Tottenham Hotspur, a game I expected to be very difficult. After a tightly contested game we again had the heartbreak of defeat in a penalty shootout once again. The game ended 3-3 after 90 minutes, a brace from Mason Greenwood and a late equaliser from Antunes proving not enough to win the game. We then missed 3 penalties in the shootout to lose 3-2. Our record from the spot is not so great!

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League

The minimum expectation from the board this Season was to again finish in the top half of the Eredivise, despite winning the League the last 2 times out. I obviously had much higher ambitions and was aiming to win the League again, more decisively than last time out.

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We retained the Eredivise, again! Three years in a row!

What a Season, may I add. A record 95 points tally is the highest achieved in this division since its creation - we failed to win only 3 games (2 draws and 1 loss to Az), whilst scoring a record high goals tally of 127, and conceded a mere 17 in the process. The League never knew what hit them. The football on show at times was breathtaking.

We started very positively with a 3-1 win away to arch rivals Feyenoord, followed directly by a 7-0 drubbing of, our other city rivals, Excelsior. This set the tone for the year to come. Beating Ajax 5-0, Psv 3-1 and multiple games finishing with 5+ goals we proved to be the best side in the League.

The side we have built here are unbelievable. The youth within the squad shows we have even more we can achieve.

Dutch Cup

Minimum expectations were for us to reach the Semi Finals after last Seasons success. I was glad to go much further than this and retain our title, with a 2-1 victory over FC Utrecht in dramatic late fashion with Teixeira scoring a fantastic solo goal in the 90+3th minute to spare our legs from extra time. The run to the final was very easy in the end with us missing all the big teams such as Ajax, Psv & Feyenoord but a title is a title none the less.

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WE WON THE DUTCH CUP! 2nd year in a row!

I am very happy to have achieved this victory and yet another Cup title added to this teams cabinet.



Season Four Review Part 2 coming up...​

 

[Jedd95]

Champions League

The board expected us to reach the group stage as a minimum, which was a given seeing that is where we were entered. I had higher ambitions and hoped to reach the semi finals after last Seasons Europa Cup exploits.

We were drawn in a very difficult group alongside European Giants Borussia Dortmund & AC Milan, and the group was rounded off by OM of France. I expected this group to prove too difficult for us to pass and foresaw another season of Europa League headed our way...

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The lads proved me very wrong. We started off the group with a massive away tie against OM, which we convincingly beat 3-0.

Next up was a very difficult home tie against Dortmund which we won 4-1, a fantastic result that gave us the confidence to move forward. A convincing 2-0 win at home to Milan followed by an unbelievable 5-1 drubbing of them in the reverse fixture had us in a dreamworld. Greenwood bagged himself 4 goals at the San Siro on the biggest stage in the world.

OM stood no chance in the second match as we steamrollered them 5-2 at home followed by a huge 2-1 victory away to Dortmund to complete a 100% victory rate in the Group Stages, and see us through to the knockout rounds.

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Our first knockout game pitted us against English giants Manchester United. A team I had hoped to avoid due to their strength and their 5-1 victory against us last Season in the group stages.

Up first we traveled to Old Trafford to lock horns. The sides contested a very even game with Mario Pinho grabbing an early goal to give us the lead in to half time. We managed to keep them out and the scores at 1-0 to Sparta right up until the 90th minute when Ander Herrera grabbed a dramatic late equaliser. The game ended 1-1 and we took the away goal advantage back to Het Kasteel.

MANCHESTER UNITED 1-1 SPARTA 1st Leg
Herrera (90') - Mario Pinho (23')

The second leg saw Manchester United travel to Holland to play at our Home, Het Kasteel. The young lads were raring to go and barely showed any signs of nerves. Mason Greenwood grabbed an early goal against his parent club to settle the nerves. Lukaku levelled the scores after 14 minutes to even the tie, before Greenwood grabbed a second and Charlie Taylor banged in an amazing freekick to give us a 3-1 lead into the break.

Mason Greenwood completed a stunning hat-trick to knock Manchester United out 4-1 on the night, 5-2 on aggregate. The stuff of dreams.

SPARTA 4-1 MANCHESTER UNITED 2nd Leg
Greenwood (4', 18', 48') - Lukaku (18')
Taylor (43')

Up next was another English side, from Manchester. Manchester City were drawn against us in what seemed like the Football Gods way of trying to hold us back. The first leg almost finished the tie.

SPARTA 5-1 MANCHESTER CITY 1st Leg
Woo-Yeong (11') - Federico Chiesa (80')
Sven Kunert (26', 39')
Kirstensen (59')
Greenwood (62')

A stunning first half saw us go into the break at 3-0. Goals from Kristensen and Greenwood seemed to finish the tie before Chiesa grabbed a late consolation goal, but more importantly an away goal. Would this come back to haunt us?

MANCHESTER CITY 1-2 SPARTA 2nd Leg
Marco Veratti (13') - Dirk Proper (62', 90')

The second leg was a very tight affair and one Sparta never looked like losing. An early goal from the spot for Veratti was as much as City ever threatened. A late brace from Proper sucker punched City Sparta marched on to the next round, winning 7-2 on aggregate.

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE SEMI FINAL

Another draw that made me think our time was over. English Premier League Champions, and the team we beat in the Europa Cup last Season. This would count for nothing except for the next 180 minutes of Football.

SPARTA 2-3 LIVERPOOL 1st leg
Greenwood (2', 7') - Firmino (11')
Fabinho (48')
Lallana (90+2')

A very disappointing result. I had hoped we could beat Liverpool at our place to set up a difficult tie for them back at Anfield but unfortunately they came out on top, after we went 2-0 up within 7 minutes and then crumbled.

SECOND LEG

We went into this game knowing nothing but a win could see us through, and even then it would be difficult with the 3 away goals.

LIVERPOOL VS SPARTA

0' Referee gets the game underway

6' FABINHO OPENS THE SCORING: 1-0 Liverpool
8' NISSEN KRISTENSEN OWN GOAL: 2-0 Liverpool
12' GELSON MARTINS SCORES! 3-0 Liverpool

HALF TIME

LIVERPOOL 3-0 SPARTA

Absolutely gutting. The occasion has got to the players and as it stands Sparta crash out 6-2 on aggregate. I made a dramatic change, hooking off star striker Leonardo Antunes off and bringing central midfielder Vignali into the frey, moving the team into a 4-5-1 DM formation. The team receive the hair dryer and are sent back onto the pitch. This is where hero's are born and made, will they listen to me? The team would need to score 4 goals to go through on away goals if Liverpool don't score in response.

45' Referee gets the second half underway

54' MAX WOBER SCORES FROM THE CORNER! 3-1 Liverpool
57' TUANZEBE MEETS THE CROSS AND HITS THE NET! 3-2 LIVERPOOL
62' GREENWOOD MEETS TAYLORS CROSS WITH THE VOLLEY!!!! 3-3 LIVERPOOL

UNBELIEVABLE SCENES, SPARTA HAVE LEVELLED THE MATCH!! As it stands Sparta will still be crashing out, unless they score 1 more and go through on away goals.....

90' Sebas Mayono is coming on for the injured sub Teixeira

96' Vignali finds Mayono with a cross field ball out wide right....

97' GREENWOOD MEETS MAYONO'S CROSS!!!!!!!!!! 4-3 SPARTA!!!!!!!!

90' Referee blows the whilst for full time

SPARTA GO THROUGH ON AWAY GOALS! 6-6 ON AGGREGATE

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Next up.... Champions League final vs Valencia
​

 

[Jedd95]

Champions League Final

After the most dramatic of Semi finals the boys were looking forward to the final with added optimism. We had reached the final and had a great chance against Valencia.

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In the end the game was over before it began, 2 goals from Dirk Proper and a goal from Greenwood made it 3-0. Valencia pulled one back in the 57th minute but that's how it remained. A very determined performance and we lifted the cup!

SPARTA WIN THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE!!! 3-1 vs Valencia

I cannot believe it. What a season this has been. The boys have defied all odds, and the goals of Mason Greenwood have blown everyone away. Manchester United want him to return to them next season in what is a hammer blow for us, but can I really blame them?

Transfers:

In the end the only signings I bought into the club in January were defensive recruits. Balstaad for the future and Axel Tuanzebe a steal from Manchester United for just £2m - he slots straight into the team alongside standout player Wober.

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Key Players:

Mason Greenwood without doubt has been our best player, 56 goals in 50 games, 11 assists and 17 POTM awards, not to mention 19 of those goals came in 12 Champions League games. Fantastic, an utter shame he's returning to Man utd next season but hopefully he goes on to be the player I believe he can be.

Other standout players being Jeong Woo-Yeong with 11 goals and 27 assists in 38 games. Stunning contribution from the Right wing. He also unfortunately is leaving us at the end of the season on a free to Hertha Bsc - I could not tempt him to remain.

Pinho, Proper & Kunert all performed fantastically as did Wober & Tuanzebe in defence. Pinho and Kunert scored 49 goals between them from Left wing and support striker roles. The whole team was sensational.

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Awards:

Manager of the Year: Me, 4th year in a row!
Golden Boot: Mason Greenwood (avg. rating 7.89)
Top Goalscorer: Mason Greenwood (34 goals, 31 games)
Young Player of the Year: Mason Greenwood, of course!
Goalkeeper of the Year: Freddy Woodman (33 games, 19 clean sheets)

Young player of the year again dominated by us. Greenwood, Proper and Kunert filling all 3 spaces. Unbelievable. The team have performed so admirably, especially Mason Greenwood who has been sensational. The best signing I have ever made with a cool 56 goals in 50 games.

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Lets see what next season brings? Can we replace Jeong Woo-Yeong and Mason Greenwood?

News:

Sparta Celebrate Famous Treble League, Cup & Champions League
Sparta announce plans to upgrade Training and Youth Facilities
Sparta announce new stadium to be build, 25k seater to take 2 years, ready for 2023 season​