The Future is Bright in Red and White - An SAFC story


Sunderland AFC
February 2018

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Fixtures:

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Started off with just 1 point from games against Stoke and Southampton, but the month quickly turned around when we hammered Watford 4-0 at home. We then followed it up with a fantastic 4-1 victory away in Monaco and then a 1-0 home victory in the Tyne and Wear derby against Newcastle...

Player of the Month - Vitinho

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Man of the match performances against both Newcastle and Monaco from the Brazilian winger, proving what a key player he is to the side.

Player Stats:

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Only 6 players in the squad are averaging below a 7 rating, which goes to show we have a nice well rounded squad and maybe just 1 or 2 top players away from a title challenge given our league position.

League Table:

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We've opened up a nice 7 point gap to Manchester City in 5th place with a game in hand, so it would be extremely disappointing to miss out on the Champions League from this position...


Next update will be a March review, with a few Europa League games and a new youth intake...​
 
Sunderland AFC
March 2018

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Fixtures:

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A pretty decent month as we progress to the Europa League quarter finals with a penalties victory over Sporting Lisbon in a tie where we should have been out of sight in the first leg, however we couldn't take our chances which meant an extremely nervous European night at the Stadium of Light. In the league we won 2 from 3, with the defeat coming at the New White Heart Lane against Champions League qualification rivals Spurs.

Player of the Month - Eric Dier

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There were no real stand out players this month but the young English centre half managed 2 goals this month and was the man of the match against Fulham.

Player Stats:

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Our record signing Memphis Depay has 14 assists and 5 goals so far, however a lot of these have come from set pieces and I feel he needs to start doing more from open play to justify his price tag. Yassine Benzia is going to be out for the next 4-6 weeks so Rescaldani really needs to step up and score the goals to fire us into the Champions League.

League Table:

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7 point gap over Man City and a game in hand on them, I fell as though our next two games against Man United and Liverpool will be pivotal to our qualification hopes.

Youth Intake:

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A very good youth intake for once, with 2 players having the potential to become star Premier League players according to my assistant. Here are the 3 best players from the intake...

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Next update will be an April review, can we continue in our defence of the Europa League and can we push on in our campaign to reach the Champions League?..


​
 

Sunderland AFC
April and May 2018

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Fixtures:

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Only 2 defeats over the 2 months meant we went into the last 2 games of the season knowing we would only need 1 point to make it into the top 4 and gain Champions League qualification. We beat Arsenal in the second last game and then drew with Norwich on the last day with a completely rotated squad to edge ahead of Tottenham and sneak 3rd place which means we will go straight into the group stages of the Champions League! Also, the reason for rotating the squad on the last day of the season is we have made it to a second consecutive Europa League final by beating Bordeaux, where we will face Liverpool who finished 7th in the Premier League...

Player of the Month(s) - Eric Dier

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The English centre back continued his impressive form from March into the last two months of the season and has wrestled the place of first choice center back from Santiago Vergini.

Player Stats:

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Nice to see that in a squad which is filled with so much great foreign talent, that 3 of the 4 of our top performers were English, even if Johnson's stats are a little over-exaggerated by the amount of games he played in the Europa League and the cups.

Final League Table:

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3rd place over Spurs on goal difference with 75 points, 25 points up on last season and 11 points up on my previous best season with Sunderland!


Next update will be the Europa League Final against Liverpool, can we defend the title we won last year?

​
 

Europa League
Final 2018

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Roads to the Final:

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Both teams came through pretty easy groups before hitting their stride in the knockout rounds. Liverpool have had a far more comfortable passage through the knockout rounds than we have, as we need penalties to get through the 2nd knockout round and away goals to get through the semi final against Bordeaux. If we do win it will be far more impressive than last season as we have faces a much harder route to the final and a far better team in the final itself...

Preview:

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The final is held at the Stade Roi Baudouin in Brussles and will see around 50,000 Englishmen invade Belgium...

Pre-Match:

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We're slight favourites according to the bookies and it is nice to see we have a fully fit squad to pick from. Rescaldani edged Benzia up top as Benzia has just come back from and injury and therefore isn't really match fit, although he can be used of the bench if needed!

The Match:

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Well that was nerve racking... We win the Europa League for a second year running with a great 2-0 victory over Liverpool. The Merseyside club started the better of the two teams and should have went 1 up from the penalty spot after winning a penalty, but Franesco Bardi saved Charlie Austin's spot kick. Then in the 60th minute we were reduced to 10 men after Lucas Digne received a 2nd yellow card. From then I feared the worst but we managed to push extra time, and with the game becoming more open, our wingers created numerous chances as we really went on top in extra time and goals from Rescaldani and Vitinho secured our 2nd Europa League in as many years!


Next update will be a season review...

​
 

Sunderland AFC
2017/2018 - Season Review
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Premier League - 3rd

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FA Cup - 4th Round

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Capital One Cup - 3rd Round

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Europa League - Winners

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Fans Player of the Season - Lucas Digne

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Best 11:

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Overall Best 11:

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Other News:

1) We're now up to Worldwide reputation after our second Europa League win.

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2) We get another new feeder club in Bristol City after our link with Falkirk ended.

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Next will be a 2018/2019 preview, with plenty of transfer news...


​
 

Sunderland AFC
2018-2019 - Season Preview
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Transfers:

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Another very busy summer transfer period, where we made a net spend of around ?13,000,000. The 3 major outgoings were Rescaldani to Chelsea, Vergini to Galatasary and N'Diaye to AS Nancy. Rescaldani never quite hit the heights expected of him, whilst N'Diaye wouldn't have made the 25 man squad with our new signings made and we cashed in on Vergini whilst we could as he was getting on a little at 29.

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The 3 main incomings were all very promising regens. Fabio Villa was signed for ?22,500,000 from Inter Milan to be our first choice striker and still has plenty of room to improve. Bryan Durand is Vergini's replacement and at ?16,000,000 from Bayern Munich, he's likely to be the leader of our defence for many years. Finally, Charly Chauvet is a midfielder I've had my eyes on for a couple of seasons and is an absolute steal at ?6,500,000 as he has the most potential of any player in my squad with my assistant believing he will become a world class defensive midfielder.

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Jack Butland and Ben Davies are both more than solid backup players in their respective positions and will help with the home grown quota in our Premier League squad. Finally, Mejri and Florex are cheap players brought in for the development squads, with Mejri heading to Bulgaria on loan as he does not have a work permit.

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Squad:

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The squad is really starting to take shape now and I feel we have adequate cover in each position and more importantly the vast majority of the squad are 26 or younger, meaning they have plenty of time to improve and play together.

Fixtures:

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7 points from 3 games is a good way to start the new season, although we never really played as well as I would have liked in the Norwich and Stoke games. Also, we got invited to play in Jonny Evans testimonial match which was the first time I've experienced a testimonial on this years game.

European Super Cup:

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New Italian striker Fabio Villa put moneybags PSG to the sword and handed us our 1st piece of silverware this season. This bodes well for our Champions League campaign and means our trophy count since I took over is 3 European trophies but 0 domestic trophies!

Champions League Group:

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An interesting group as we get both Italian giants Roma and Spanish giants Real Madrid. AS Nancy in the group means a quick reunion with French midfielder Alfred N'Diaye, but I don't see them doing much in the group. Real Madrid will be heavy favourites to win the group and I expect we'll be fighting a strong looking Roma side for 2nd place.


Next up will be a September review, including our Champions League debut at home to Real Madrid! It will certainly be a baptism of fire...​
 

Sunderland AFC
September 2018
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Fixtures:

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A disappointing defeat at Goodison Park to start the month, however we bounced back with a brilliant 3-0 victory over Real Madrid in our Champions League debut. We won both of our following Premier League games and progressed passed Stoke in the Capital One Cup.

Player of the Month - Will Hughes

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4 goals this month from the England international...

Player Stats:

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New signing Villa has hit the ground running and Vitinho is justifying his lucrative new contract...

League Table:

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Not a bad start but the table doesn't mean anything after just 6 games.


Next update will be an October review, with Champions League ties against Benfica and AS Nancy...

​
 
This is a very good story mate, You really did well in the Europa League to win it back to back and that was an amazing result against Real Madrid. Keep it up.
 
AceAvenger said:
This is a very good story mate, You really did well in the Europa League to win it back to back and that was an amazing result against Real Madrid. Keep it up.
Click to expand...

Cheers mate, for some reason we just seem to perform much better when we play in Europe!
 
Sunderland AFC
October and November 2018

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Fixtures:

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Just one loss in all competitions across the 2 months and that came via a 90th minute Mohammed Salah winner for Real Madrid in the Bernabeu! The best results in the 2 months were the 4-1 victory in Rome, the 5-1 victory away to West Brom and winning 1-0 at Old Trafford...

Player of the Months - Lucas Digne

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Incredibly consistent left back who never really seems to have a bad performance!

Player Stats:

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Fabio Villa is proving himself to be worth every penny of the ?23,000,000 we paid for him, whilst Vitinho, Depay and Will Hughes are all chipping in with plenty of assists and goals as well!

League Table:

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Sitting in 3rd place, only behind Chelsea and Arsenal on goal difference. We have a few hard games in December which will really show whether we're capable of putting together a title challenge.

Champions League Group:

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We qualified from the group before the Madrid game however if we'd held on for a draw we would have already won the group. Now we need to win at home to Roma to secure top spot.


Next update will be a busy December review...

​
 

Sunderland AFC
December 2018
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Fixtures:

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4 wins and 3 losses from a pretty hard set of Premier League fixtures isn't a great return but is more than acceptable. The poor result away to Newcastle on Boxing Day was the biggest disappointment, however we did progress in the Capital One Cup and won our Champions League Group which makes up for it...

Player of the Month - Fabio Villa

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Our record signing Italian continued a very good first season by adding another 6 goals to his tally over the course of December.

Player Stats:

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Memphis Depay really needs to start picking his from up as his stats suggest he should be winning us games on his own but he's currently 4 goals and 4 assists behind Vitinho who plays on the other wing, and Depay takes all off the set pieces...

League Table:

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Despite a mixed month, we end 2018 at the top of a very tight Premier League table. There's only 8 points between us in 1st and Manchester City in 8th, and they have 2 games in hand!

Champions League Group + 1st Knockout Round Draw:

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The win over Roma allowed us to top the group and we were rewarded with a pretty generous draw in the first knockout round, where we will face Galatasary, who won the competition in 2014 and were runners up in 2015. However, I think we should have more than enough to get past them and book our place in the quarter finals...


Next update will be a January review, where we will be signing a young Brazilian striker for a very small fee to bring competition for Fabio Villa.​
 

Sunderland AFC
January 2019

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Transfers:

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One striker in whilst a promising young striker Jaroslav Giertl leaves to fellow Premier League side Crystal Palace on loan. The incoming striker is a Brazilian called Miguel who I got on a free transfer but stupidly clicked the 'buy now' button just after the transfer window closed in September so I ended up paying a few hundred thousand. It doesn't really matter too much though as his value jumped up to ?15,000,000 as soon as he joined and he'll be pushing Fabio Villa for his spot up front...

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Fixtures:

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A great month to start of the year as we take 13 points from 5 games, whilst also progressing into the Capital One Cup after a aggregate 2-1 semi final victory over Chelsea. More than that, we also moved into the 5th round of the FA Cup where we will play at home to Championship side Aston Villa.

Player of the Month - Memphis Depay

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Memphis really picked up this month, with 2 goals and 7 assists!

Player Stats:

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As you can see Miguel has started really well, whilst the other usual suspects such as Digne, Villa, and Vitinho are all still performing to a very high level.

League Table:

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8 points ahead of United and 9 in front of Spurs, but they both have a game in hand. Our first game in February is a Premier League match against Manchester United at the Stadium of Light and could be a key game in the title race even at this relatively early stage of the season...


Next update will be a February review, with key Premier League games against Spurs and Manchester United and also an away tie against Galatasary in the 1st knockout round of the Champions League...
​
 

Sunderland AFC
February 2019
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Fixtures:

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We're cruising through in the Champions League after a 5-2 win in the first leg in Turkey and we are through to the quarters of the FA Cup after a crushing 6-0 victory over Aston Villa. 4 wins from 5 in the league as well as that makes it a very good month for the lads...

Player of the Month - Charis Mavrias

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Charis is our main back up winger and he's put in some fantastic performances coming into the team this month as squad rotation has become even more important...

Player Stats:

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Miguel is continuing his early great form in an SAFC shirt and young Danish midfielder Dan Kohler has been getting a few appearances to help his development.

League Table:

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11 points clear at the top but Manchester City have 2 games in hand, so the title race is still very much open...


Next update will be the Capital One Cup Final against Spurs, who we have an awful record against on this save...​
 
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Capital One Cup
Final - 2019

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Road to the Final:

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Both had pretty hard runs to the final however Tottenham's was certainly harder than ours.

Pre-Match:

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Preview:

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The bookies make us favourites for the game and judging by the starting 11's I would say that is fair. Spurs are missing a couple of key players in Lamela and Mustacchio whilst we have arguably our strongest 11 out.

H2H:

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As I mentioned briefly in the February update, we have an awful record against Spurs on this save.

The Match:

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Well we finally have our first domestic trophy under my managerial reign but it should have been a lot easier. It was a pretty dull game in all honesty, but we managed to grab the lead in the first half and looked very comfortable until Sandro equalized with the last kick of the game. Unfortunately, extra time couldn't settle the sides so we went to a penalty shoot out which we won, with Vitinho scoring the winning penalty!


Next up will be a March review...

​
 

Sunderland AFC
March 2019

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Fixtures:

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After our Capital One Cup Final win, we also progressed into the quarters of the Champions League and the semis of the FA Cup. After that we kept up our title challenge with 2 home victories over West Brom and Sheffield United, although it took a last minute winner to get past Sheffield United...

Player of the Month - Charis Mavrias

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Mavrias continues to be our super sub and scored a late winner against Sheffield United and two against West Brom!

Player Stats:

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League Table:

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We look to be in a very good position but with Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal in 4 of our next 5 league games and still being in 2 other competitions there is still a long way to go!

Youth Intake:

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A poor intake but we had a very good one last year so I can't complain. We did get a Brazilian and an American in the intake though, showing the links we've got with other clubs are coming into effect!


Next up is an incredibly busy April, with 4 Premier League games, a two-legged Champions League quarter final against PSG and an FA Cup semi final against Cardiff!​
 

Sunderland AFC
April 2019
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Fixtures:

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The fixtures really started to catch up with us this month as we needed extra time to beat Cardiff and move into the FA Cup Final and we got knocked out of the Champions League by PSG. In the league we got beat 3-0 at Chelsea, who caught us off the back of playing 120 minutes twice in a week against Cardiff and PSG. However, we ended the month with a crushing 5-0 victory over Manchester City, which left us in touching distance of the title. We were then confirmed as champions on the next day as Newcastle, of all teams, took a draw at Old Trafford and meant they were 10 points behind us with 3 games to play. SAFC are the champions of England for 2018/2019!

Player of the Month - Miguel

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The Brazilian striker has stepped in for the injured Fabio Villa and managed a hatrick against Burnley and a brace against Manchester City!

Player Stats:

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League Table:

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Champions!


Next update will be an FA Cup Final post against Liverpool! Can we make it a domestic treble, when before this season we had not even won 1 domestic trophy under my management?​
 

FA Cup
Final - 2019

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Road to the Final:

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Neither side has had particularly difficult runs to the final, with Liverpool's biggest scalp being an underperforming Arsenal side and ours being their Merseyside rivals Everton.

Pre-Match:

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We look to win only our 3rd ever FA Cup, and first under my management, whilst Liverpool look to win their 9th!

Preview:

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Liverpool have a fully fit squad to choose from, whilst we are only missing one player in first choice striker Fabio Villa. The bookies make us the favourites and Miguel will be looking for a couple of goals to make him the competition's top scorer for the season...

The Match:

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2 goals from Memphis Depay and one from Vitinho was enough to secure us the domestic treble and our 4th trophy of the season (including the European Super Cup). The first half was pretty even but after I told the team I wasn't impressed with their first half performance, they came flying out in the second half and blew Liverpool away...
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Next up will be a season review...

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Sunderland AFC
Season Review - 2018/2019
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Premier League - Winners

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Capital One Cup - Winners

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FA Cup - Winners

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European Super Cup - Winners

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Champions League - Quarter Final

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Fans Player of the Season - Vitinho

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Best 11:

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Overall Best 11:

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Other News:

1) We get a slight boost in our reputation after last years performances, which now stands at a 5 star rating.

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2) We are now the third highest estimated valued club in the world behind PSG and Arsenal.

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Next update will be a season preview for 2019/2020. I've also updated the posts on the first couple of posts of the story for anyone who wants a quick overview of how the save has gone so far...
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Sunderland AFC
Season Preview - 2019/2020

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Transfers:

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As you can see, we've made a great profit of around ?45,000,000 on transfer fees over the summer, with the main incoming money coming from the sales of Alfred Duncan, Ignacio Camacho and Yassine Benzia. Promising youngsters Dan Kohler and Jaroslav Giertl have both got great loans out at Schalke and Everton respectively, which should help their development massively.

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The one player we brought in for a transfer fee was Romanian attacking midfielder Gabriel Iancu for what I believe is a bargain at just ?7,000,000. On top of that we brought in 2 signings that are certainly not typical of my normal signings, the signings of Gareth Bale and Lars Bender on free transfers. They are both 30 years old but will add a far higher quality of back up than we had last season and the big name signing of Bale will provide some nice merchandise sales. The final incoming transfer was a young Ivorian attacking midfielder who will spend 6 months in our under 21's and then I'll try to send him out on loan in January...

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First Team Squad:

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I'm very happy with the squad for the upcoming season, with quality all around the team and a nice blend of youth and experience. Our wage budget has increased massively over the summer though, with numerous players moaning for big improvements on their contracts so if any player is not performing they are more likely to be sold now!

Community Shield:

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New signing Iancu came off the bench to bag the winner at a packed Wembley and secure us our first trophy of the season!

Fixtures:

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A very poor result at home to Manchester City on the opening day but we quickly got back on form with victories over Southampton and Fulham.

Champions League Group:

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I don't foresee too many problems with this group, and we will more than likely be fighting 2nd seeds Atletico for top spot.

Stadium Expansion:

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After a sharp increase in season ticket sales, we were able to convince Ellis Short into expanding the stadium by around 8,000 seats, providing we get planning permission...


Next update will be a September review...

​
 

Sunderland AFC
September 2019
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Fixtures:

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5 wins out of 5 this month and they were all by the solitary goal. The frustrating thing is I never really felt as though we got out of 1st gear this month but I suppose we were still getting the results and that is all that matters!

Player of the Month - Bryan Durand

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Only 2 goals conceded in the 5 games and a man of the match performance in the home victory over Everton.

Player Stats:

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Will Hughes has been the stand out performer of the season so far but our wingers are yet to really get going as an attacking force.

League Table:

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Back to the top of the league after a good month and teams around us dropping points. Norwich are the early surprise package of the season so far, sitting in 2nd place.


Next up will be the October update, including a trip to the Emirates in our defence of the Capital One Cup...

​
 
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