The Hornets - Watford Football Club

[FM_TNSSO]

Chapter 14
A Cup Scalp, Martin On Form & A New Contract
Friday 25th September 2026

We went into this year's Carabao Cup as a top tier team and one that the lower league sides might not want to draw. Charlton were our first opponents in the competition and with a home draw on our side, we had every reason to feel confident of a win. I rotated the squad heavily, even given a debut to 16 year old Jauvaney Emmanuel (from the bench with 30 minutes remaining) and the lads that came in got the job done, even if it was by the narrowest of margins. Patson Daka gets his first goal for the club.

Our third round opponents will be a whole different kettle of fish!

Back to the Prem and Ipswich hadn't won any of their opening 3 games since coming up with us. They did take an early lead against us though, but that was only as good as it was going to get. Patson Daka picked up where he left off against Charlton, scoring again and grabbing an assist for Carlos Martin's first goal as well. Taylor Harwood-Bellis did see red late on, but luckily we had already secured the points by then.

The Carabao Cup came around really quickly and Man City were waiting for us. One things for sure, I wouldn't be featuring any 16 year olds in this squad and although there was some minor rotation, I played a strong side. Meanwhile City left out a couple of big guns and there was no sign of the big striking Viking...to my delight. It was a decision that Pep would live to regret as his team lacked firepower, only creating 5 chances in the whole game. On the flip side, we were at our attacking best and scored two stunning goals to take the win. Lucas Ribeiro's winning strike was incredible as he dribbled through the middle of the pitch, before unleashing a vicious strike which hit the top corner from 30 yards...a shot no keeper in the world is saving! A great result as we knock out one of the favourites to win the competition.

With that, the transfer window has now closed as well. The biggest deals of the English window saw Spurs centre back Micky Van de Ven join Man Utd in a £69 million deal, whilst Chelsea fork out a whopping £145 million for Bradley Barcola from PSG.

The transfer window closing did pose me with a slight problem. It doesn't close in all countries at the same time and Imran Louza has now left the club without me having the opportunity to replace him. He had a £21 million release clause in his contract and Al-Hilal have met that figure and he moves to Saudi. It's a nice cash injection for the club, but I won't be able to spend any of it for another 3 months.

Our next game in the Premier League was against our last opponents in the Carabao Cup...yep a double header against Man City. One thing that shocked me was the ommission of Erling Haaland yet again from the City side - he isn't injured so are they just underestimating us yet again?!

Despite maybe taking us for granted again, City did get their revenge over us, but we have nothing to be ashamed of here as again we gave them a really good, tough game.

It was important that we showed our fighting spirit at Selhurst Park against Palace and the lads did me proud coming away with a point. Eddie Nketiah had The Eagles in front in 22 seconds, but Carlos Martin bagged our equalizer right on the stroke of half time with a close range finish.

Carlos Martin has proven to be an amazing signing in his early Watford career, scoring 6 goals in 8 games in all comps. I wonder if Atletico Madrid are regretting letting him go yet?

On a much less positive note, we have received awful injury news for Edo Kayembe. He is out for the entire season after tearing his ACL in training. Kayembe was a major part of our title winning side last year, scoring 15 league goals and getting 3 assist and he has already scored once in four appearances this year too. Gutted for a player that I was keen to see how he would get on in the Premier League this year.

How we weren't 2 or 3 up against Spurs inside the opening 20 minutes, I'll never know. Patson Daka missed an absolute sitter, Tom Davies hit the post with a side footed effort and Chardonnet hit the crossbar with a header from a corner. We weren't deterred and continued to dominate the first half and Kwadwo Baah hit the post with just 2 minutes of the half remaining...we went into the break wondering how on earth we weren't in front. We kept up the pressure in the opening stages of the second half and thought we finally had our noses in front on 54 minutes, only for Mike Tresor's goal to be ruled out for offside! It just wasn't going to be our day and we can certainly count ourselves unlucky to only come away from this one with a draw.

There seems to be an extended International break now for the UEFA Nations League (England have 4 games scheduled over the next 2 1/2 weeks), so we now have nearly a month before we will play another competitive game! I'll have to set up a couple of friendlies I think to keep the lads fresh.

The break did at least give the board a chance to thrash out a new contract with me and I have signed a deal worth £46k per week for the next 3 years.

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Chapter 15
How Have I Been Overlooking Chakvetadze?!
Sunday 22nd November 2026

During the long international break, we played a couple of friendlies against Austrian opposition, mainly to keep the legs fresh in the team.

We returned to competitive action with an away day at Sunderland and it was a good day out in the North East. A dominant performance all round as we cruised to victory and Kwadwo Baah celebrated his new 5 year contract (signed this week) by scoring a brace.

The balanced mentality I have been playing so far this season has been serving us pretty well, but for the first half an hour against Brighton, we were being dominated. So I went to an attacking outlook and immediately we were on the front foot and got back to level terms before Patson Daka scored a tidy finish to give us the lead just before half time. The second half was back and forth and an open game where both sides created chances, but it was our opponents who took theirs to level things up and return to the South Coast with a draw.

After knocking Manchester City out of the Carabao Cup, we had drawn their arch rivals in the next round and a trip to Old Trafford was on the cards. On this occasion, we didn't come out on top, but boy can I be proud of my lads. We took United all the way to a penalty shootout after coming back from 2-0 and 3-2 down! I had some big choices to make throughout the game and one of them was to make 4 subs at half time. That saw Giorgi Chakvetadze and Patson Daka come off the bench and they combined for both our first two goals, with Daka then going on to seal his hat trick. In the end it was sudden death pens and the 6th one that we went out on, but I can't fault the lads for their effort here and we can consider ourselves unlucky to be out.

Giorgi Chakvetadze spent a large part of last season injured and this year, I haven't really given him a chance to show what he can do. But after coming on against United and bagging two assists, I might need to look at him a little closer!

Kwadwo Baah was my player of the season last year and it remained to be seen whether he could reach the same levels in the Premier League this year. Well, I think he's showing that he is up to the standard as he lifts both the Player of the Month and Young Player of the Month awards for October.

Baah picked up where he left off last month by scoring against Aston Villa in our 2-2 draw. I also gave a start to Chakvetadze who impressed in the Carabao Cup and he justified the decision by getting the assist for Carlos Martin's goal.

Arsenal at The Emirates is a daunting prospect for any side, let alone a newly promoted team! Well, not for us it seems, as we only went there and won!!! I'm starting to question my own judgement for overlooking Chakvetadze all this time as he scored both goals to give us victory! Easily the result of my Watford career so far!

At Arsenal, we took a defensive mentality into that game, but back at home against Bournemouth I felt we could play with a more positive tone. I was proven right as we dominated the possession from start to finish and momentum was with us throughout the entire 90 minutes. Kwadwo Baah tucked away a couple of nice goals both from central areas in front of the goal from about 10-15 yards out. A nice victory.

Baah really is impressing this season as he currently finds himself inside the top 5 players in the league on average rating.

There is no doubt that his performances this year have been a massive catalyst in propelling us up to 4th in the league after the opening 12 games! We won't get ahead of ourselves just yet, but I think it's safe to say we won't be finding ourselves in amongst the relegation battle this season as expected.

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Chapter 16
A Couple Of Big Wins In Amongst Some Other Very Decent Results
Thursday 31st December 2026

We head to Stamford Bridge for our next game and at the start of the season, who'd have ever imagined this would be a case of 3rd vs 4th! We've won at The Emirates this year...could we repeat the feat in West London?

The answer was no, although we did run Chelsea close and they will go home knowing they've been in a game. The difference between the two sides is simply that their budget allows them to spend over £145 million on a player, but we don't. Barcola was unreal for them and we simply couldn't handle him!

One thing we have been very good at this season so far is the attacking side of the game. This graphic shows that we are performing well above average in almost every area at the moment and I feel most teams will fear our attacking intent and ability when they come up against us.

It's our attacking play that has been getting the plaudits, but our match with Nottingham Forest was all about two excellent defenseive performances as we played out a 0-0 draw. Some great saves from Ramsdale who deserved his man of the match award.

But against Fulham, we turned in our worst performance of the season so far. We were poor in attack and didn't defend well either. Beaten by a side that I would have expected us to beat with the form we have been in. However, we knew there would be tough points during this season and this might just be one of them.

The FA Cup 3rd round draw has taken place and we should be looking at safe passage through after drawing Tranmere Rovers...but this is the FA Cup and we all know nothing can be taken for granted in that competition.

For now, we turn our attention back to the Premier League as we faced a Coventry side that have lost 9 games in a row. We needed to take full advantage of this fixture and we did just that, smashing 4 goals past Brendan Rodgers side. Berkey Yilmaz was asked to overlap down the left wing as I feel he can provide more attacking threat and it was his cross that led to our first goal, as he laid it on a plate for Kwadwo Baah to tap in from close range. Chakvetadze, the revelation of the season, scored again, before Patson Daka and Tom Davies both added goals from the bench.

The result left Coventry with a record they won't want! 10 games lost in a row in the Premier League.

After scoring 4 against Coventry, we carried that confidence into the match with Brentford and banged in another 4! Patson Daka was the star of the show as he bagged a hat trick, linking up for two of them with Giorgi Chakvetadze.

We have already played Man City twice this season in cup and league (W1, L1), but in neither of those games did Pep play his ace card...the striking Viking. However, he did unleash him here and it was Haaland who netted the first goal of the game. Bernardo Silva doubled their lead 10 minutes into the second half, before Ethan Laird gave us a glimmer of hope by halfing the deficit with a low powerful effort from inside the box. However, Haaland put the game beyond our reach with a powerful strike of his own as he ran onto a through ball and hit a first time strike into the top corner. It was always going to be a very difficult task to get something at the Etihad.

Just three days later on Boxing Day, we had to go to possibly the most intimidating ground in the country, St.James Park. Now if there is one way to silence the Newcastle crowd, it's to score an early goal and we did just that as Chakvetadze (who just keeps continuing to impress by the way) gave us the lead inside 8 minutes. It certainly rattled Eddie Howe's side and to be honest, their efforts to get back into the game were pretty tame. It almost came as no surprise to everyone inside the stadium when Kwadwo Baah doubled our lead on 68 mins...a goal that would secure the 3 points for us and a massive away win!

The difficult fixtures just kept coming and Liverpool were visitors to Vicarage Road after just a 3 day gap again. But a gritty and determined defensive display ensures we hold the league leaders to a 0-0 draw and earn a valuable point. A very good result and a decent way to end the calendar year.

We are 20 games into the season and flying high in the top 6, surpassing all expectations so far this year. We definitely won't be getting relegated this year, so now it's all about achieving as much as we can and trying to finish as high as we possibly can.

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Chapter 17
A New Exciting Brazilian, With Some Embarrassment Along The Way
Monday 1st February 2027

With us currently well above targets in the league this season, the board gave me the opportunity to change our expectations. I moved us to avoid a relegation battle which has boosted both the transfer and wage budgets as we go into January.

And with the window open once again, I have an exciting new signing to announce. 21 year old Newertton is guaranteed to bring some of that Brazilian flair to the team he's a very quick, pacey, strong dribbler of the ball who can shoot as well. I can't wait to see this kid in action and reckon he could have a very big future here at Watford. We met his minimum fee release clause of £14.25 million to bring him here from Shakhtar.

Newertton arrived with a slight injury so couldn't play against Manchester United. My squad was tired too so it wasn't a surprise to see a real lacklustre performance and we were well beaten at Old Trafford.

On the plus side, we did have an 8 day break before our FA Cup fixture with Tranmere Rovers. They're currently sitting 8th in League Two and it was a game everyone was expecting a relatively easy win from.

But things didn't go to plan at all and we suffer the ultimate embarrassment as we are knocked out of the competition by our lower league opposition. We were ******* awful going forward, meanwhile they scored both of their only shots in the whole game! A terrible result...one that will likely follow and haunt me for the remainder of my career.

There is no denying we've been on a poor run of form of late and needed to turn things around. Inviting Premier League strugglers, Ipswich Town, to Vicarage Road would give us the perfect opportunity to do just that. It was an opportunity we didn't waste as we hammered them 4-1, finally seeing some quality finishing from our front line, none more so than Mike Tresor who scored a beautiful brace of excellent strikes. Yves Bissouma also gets off the mark for us, scoring his first goal for the club.

We had already beaten West Ham at The Olympic Stadium early in the season, so had every reason to feel confident as we hosted them in our next game and Giorgi Chakvetadze got us off to the perfect start when he struck us in front inside 4 minutes! It took over an hour for us to add the second, which came through a Tom Davies effort as he ran on to Carlos Martin's cross to hit a first time strike into the top of the net. It secured a comfortable 2-0 victory.

The West Ham game finally saw new signing, Newertton, make his debut. He came with an injury and only saw the last 10 minutes of the game, but there were enough glimpses of his talent to get the Watford faithful excited.

We aren't the only side that are perceived to be massively overachieving this season...Everton are 7th and are also seen to be punching above their weight. And what a game we had with them at The Hill Dickenson Stadium, with the two sides sharing 6 goals between them. Unfortunately, we came off on the wrong end of the result on this occasion, with our defending from set pieces really letting us down as The Toffees scored two of their four from corners.

The transfer window only has a few days left and whilst there isn't much going on in our camp, there are rumours swirling that will make Spurs fans very anxious.

Back at home to Palace, it was another goal fest, but this time we were on the correct side of the result. Newertton got his first start for the club, but turned in a pretty average performance. One player that was not average was Patson Daka who continues to score goals for us in the Premier League, bagging another brace. Mike Tresor was also able to add one from the bench late on, as he weaved past 2 players into the box before putting his laces through a powerful shot into the bottom corner.

Daka's 9 league goals this season is already his best return in an English leageu season. Hopefully it won't be too long before he gets himself into double figures.

With 25 games of the season now gone, we have gone past that magic 40 point mark. It leaves us 7th in the table and no matter what happens from here on out, it has to be seen as being a successful season.

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Chapter 18
Davies In Form As Another Englishman Joins The Club
Friday 19th March 2027

Transfer deadline day came and I still had £17 million left in my budget to spend...and I was keen to use it. One thing I was missing in my side was a left footed centre back and so that was what I went hunting for. Again, I had a preference for an English player if one was available and I identified my target in Wrexham's Callum Doyle. At 23 years old, he has plenty of improvement left in him, but immediately comes in as a squad rotation option and will play football for us for sure. The fee is £18.75 million, made up of an up front payment of £14 million, with the remainder coming in installments and player related targets.

There were a couple of massive deals done during this window, also involving English players. Adam Wharton moves to France to join PSG, whilst Elliot Anderson trades Nottingham for Manchester in a deal worth £93 million.

Doyle joined us with a knock, so couldn't start against Chelsea, but I did rotate a couple of players and Mike Tresor came into the starting lineup as reward for his recent good performances off the bench. It was two players that kept their places that impressed the most as Yves Bissouma and Tom Davies controlled the central midfield areas of the pitch and limited Chelsea's creativity throughout. It was also those two that combined for our equalizer that earned us a very good point against Enzo Maresca's side.

Tom Davies just can't stop scoring at the moment and now has 4 in his last 6, with a couple of assists to boot as well. He's definitely our in form player right now.

It was defeat for us down on the south coast as we come away with nothing from a trip to Bournemouth. Always a tough place to go and we were just second best.

We have had a few games of late, where there have been a high number of goals and away at Forest was another! We shared 8 goals between us and the points as well, with a draw probably being a fair result on a day that gave the neutrals a wonderful game of attacking football to watch! Mike Tresor was our best player, scoring a couple and looking threatening all game, but it was really good to see Newertton getting his first goal and assist for the club since signing.

After so many games with so many goals, we had a bore draw with Arsenal...but this is an extremely good point! Arsenal have played us twice in the league this season and failed to get a win over us...that's an achievement for us in itself!

A 14 day international break followed before we hosted Coventry City, bottom of the league and looking destined for Championship football next season. Despite that, we failed to beat them as we turn in a very poor display. Lack of effort, lack of urgency, lack of quality...not good enough!

Things certainly aren't going our way at the moment and that's now 5 games without a win.

Despite that, we do hold on to 7th spot in the Premier League. There are a few clubs queuing up behind us ready to pounce if we don't pick up our form soon though. The title looks to be Liverpool's already as they have only lost 1 game all season in what is proving to be an incredible campaign for them.

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Chapter 19
Average Youth Intake, Domination At Anfield, But Still In A Great Position
Saturday 17th April 2027

This year's youth intake is described as average, with just a couple of elite prospects in the roster.

The two to watch out for are both attacking midfield players, but I have to admit that I am not hugely excited at the prospect of either Ryan Kilcawley or Adama Romero. Hopefully, at least one of them will prove me wrong in the coming years and improve enough to feature in the first team.

There could be change ahead within the structure of the club, with a potential takeover being touted.

Meanwhile, in other club news, Pep Guardiola has found himself getting the sack, with Manchester City sitting 4th in the league and 21 points off the pace. The man that City have turned to in order to replace him is a club legend.

Back to the action and after 5 games without a win, we finally chalk one up at Craven Cottage. Fulham are firmly in the relegation battle and this defeat will not help their cause at all. Carlos Martin and Patson Daka have been our most familiar names on the scoresheet this season and it was their goals that got us over the line again here.

There was little to no chance of us backing that up with another victory though, as we went to Anfield to take on Liverpool who have only been beaten once all season! We were dominated like we've not been dominated all season, but kept the score respectable at just 1-0. Liverpool are simply too good right now!

Newcastle would also present extremely tough opposition, but it was almost like the Liverpool effort had inspired us to pull off a great result. The Magpies offered much less than I expected and we kept their front line pretty quiet, which ensured Mike Tresor's goal was enough for us to take the points.

We had dropped down to 9th place, but that win over Newcastle has seen us back up to 7th and with just 5 games to go we find ourselves in the race for continental qualification. An unbelievable position to be in at this late stage of the season.

And with the way we have played all season, there is an argument to say all of our last 5 games are winnable.

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Chapter 20
Final Push For A European Spot
Sunday 16th May 2027

The first of our final 5 matches of the season was away at Brentford. It was a game I felt we could win, so it is disappointing to come away with only a point, especially after fighting back from a goal down to lead 2-1. We were by far the better side for the entire 90 minutes, but lapses in concentration allowed them to score soft goals and we were ultimately punished.

We followed that up with another draw in a game we really should have won. It felt like we were on a 90 minute attack against Sunderland, but simply couldn't find the back of the net. A point is always OK in a Premier League game when you've been promoted, but this definitely feels like 2 points dropped.

It leaves us in 8th with 3 games to go, but if we win our next then we will jump above Spurs on goal difference. Meanwhile, Liverpool have the league title wrapped up nice and early with Chelsea having tied down 2nd place as well.

We got the victory we needed to take us above Spurs, away at Brighton, who have been disappointing this season and are languishing in 15th place and not quite clear of relegation just yet (only 3 points ahead of West Ham in 18th). Carlos Martin got us off the mark, before the goal of the game came from Newertton during which the highlight was Mike Tresor's backheel pass for the assist.

Our penultimate game of the season was at home to Aston Villa, who's fans will likely be disappointed in how their season has gone too. They came into the game in 10th place, with no chance of finishing higher than 9th and are currently 18th in the form table. Everything pointed to a home win and we thought Newertton had got us off to the perfect start when he tapped in from close range in the 7th minute, only for the goal to be ruled out for offside. After that, it was Villa who came close to taking the lead a couple of times in the first half, thwarted by a determined Aaron Ramsdale with a couple of eyecatching saves. The breakthrough did eventually come on the hour mark when Carlos Martin despatched his penalty kick after he, himself, had been brought down in the box. That turned out to be the only goal of the game and it was job done as far as we were concerned.

Spurs had also won their game (1-0 against Bournemouth), whilst Everton suffered a shock defeat to Ipswich. That leaves all three of us going into the final day on 61 points, but we do have the better goal difference of the three.

Our final game of the season....Spurs away in a match that might just determine which one of us makes Europe next year! Man City in 5th, host Newcastle in a match that won't be easy by any stretch of the imagination and Everton host Arsenal. It's all to play for on the final day, when I genuinely thought we could be in a very different position fighting to stay up on the last day at the start of the campaign.

We got off to the worst possible start against Tottenham, falling behind to a Ferran Torres goal from close range in the 5th minute. However, that lead lasted no more than 40 seconds before Patson Daka struck a tidy effort from 20 yards out to level things up. The second half started as frantically as the first, with young Mikey Moore putting the home side 2-1 up inside only a couple of minutes of the restart. Again it was Patson Daka who equalized for us, this time capitalising on an awful mix up in the Tottenham defence which handed him a clear cut opportunity from 7 yards out that he wasn't going to waste. It was nervey for both sides for the rest of the half and Kwadwo Baah thought he'd won the game for us in the 90th minute when he hammered home a powerful strike after running on to a ball over the top, but it was ruled out by VAR for the tightest of offside calls. It was the last significant piece of action in the game and we come away with a 2-2 draw which will be enough to see us finish about Spurs. Now it would come down to what happened in the other games.

Manchester City drew at home to Newcastle, whilst Everton pulled off an excellent result against The Gunners.

It means that Everton leapfrog everyone into 5th place and will play in the Europa League next year. We end up finishing 7th, but because of the cup results, I am hoping this will be enough for us to creep into the Europa Conference League. Meanwhile, West Ham will join Coventry and Ipswich in the Championship next year...oooh I wonder if Jarrod Bowen is available?!

Our final league position is rewarded with a prize of £27 million, which was much needed with the bank balance in the red still, even after that injection of cash.

The board clearly feel comfortable with the situation though as they have handed me another £49 million to spend this Summer.

 

[CrokayVessel]

Fantastic end to a great season in the end, fingers crossed European football is in your future!

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Fantastic end to a great season in the end, fingers crossed European football is in your future!

It was an amazing campaign and one I definitely didn't expect. We will have our work cut out to replicate such a good season next year.

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Chapter 21
End Of Season Review 2026/27

Competition Winners
Premier League - Liverpool
EFL Championship - Burnley
EFL League One - Stoke
EFL League Two - MK Dons
FA Cup - Coventry City
Carabao Cup - Liverpool
Community Shield - Arsenal

Around Europe
La Liga - Barcelona
Bundesliga -Bayern Munich
Serie A - Juventus
Ligue 1 - PSG
Liga Portugal - Porto
Champions League - Real Madrid
Europa League - Eintracht Frankfurt
Europa Conference League - Rayo Vallecano

It was a fantastic season back in the Premier League for us this year and I never could have even dreamed we would finish in the top 7, when the aim was simply to avoid the drop. The new signings performed well and luckily everyone settled in together pretty quickly, considering how many players were added last Summer. Hopefully, we will be more settled now and won't see such a high amount of transfer activity, but will improve where required, and can then kick on again next season.

We will have to juggle both domestic and European football next season as our 7th placed finish did in fact secure us a place in the Europa Conference League next year!

Squad Stats
​

Club/Manager Awards

Aaron Ramsdale proved to be a great signing and was reliable between the sticks all season, so much so that he set a new clean sheet record for the club.

The commercial summary this year makes for significantly better reading than last year, which is expected with Premier League status. New sponsorship deals have returned nearly 3 times the revenue of our previous agreements, whilst every other area has seen considerable increases.

All that additional income has finally seen our bank balance move into a healthy position in the positive.

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Chapter 22
First £100k Per Week Salary
Friday 6th August 2027

My first signing of the Summer is an improvement to our back line as Austrian international centre back, David Affengruber, joins the club from Elche after we activated his £10 million minimum fee release clause. He has been a permanent fixture in the Elche squad, playing La Liga football for the past 2 seasons and I believe he has all the attributes to transfer into the Premier League and at 26 years old, he's in his prime.

The fixtures for the new season are released and we will open the campaign with a home fixture against Sunderland...a winnable game. Boxing Day will see us host Spurs and we'll finish the campaign at home again, the Brentford.

19 players left the club this Summer after their contracts expired. There are no major names of note here, but Nampalys Mendy did play in 42 league games during our Championship winning season (although barely touched the first 11 last year).

Our next signing was a cheeky little free transfer. Arsenal had allowed Leo Trossard to run his contract down and he was available for nothing. To bring in a player with his proven track record in the top division, for no fee at all, is a bargain deal and a half!!

Meanwhile, Kevin Keben is moved on to Hull City for a fee of £3.4 million. We have too many centre backs now and Keben simply isn't up the the standard as the rest.

One position I did need to recruit for was defensive midfield and I have forked out a big fee (for us) to sign ex Brentford midfielder, Mads Bidstrup, for £13 million. He comes in from Red Bull Salzberg and is a very tasty edition to our team, bringing some real talent to the squad and I can't wait to see him in action. Bidstrup also becomes the highest paid player at the club and our first on £100k per week.

My next signing was one for the future as 18 year old Harvey Higgins joins the club. He signs from Blackburn for just £1.2 million and will hopefully improve enough to feature one day for the first team, or at least enough for us to make a decent profit on him.

Aaron Ramsdale was an impressive player for us last year and has now been rewarded with the captain's armband for the upcoming season, with Taylor Harwood-Bellis getting vice captain duties.

Pre-season this year has been solid enough with 5 wins and a draw. A tour of the USA should increase our profile across the pond as we took on two of their top sides in front of capacity crowds. The 4-1 win at Leicester was probably the best result of all the friendlies.

Mike Tresor really impressed through pre-season this year, scoring 4 and assisting 2 goals in 4 games. Maintaining an average rating of 7.88 has ensured he has well and truly staked his claim for a starting spot in the opening Premier League fixture against Sunderland.

We have obviously improved a little in the eyes of the bookies as we aren't predicted to be relegated this year, although 16th place does suggest they only just think we are good enough to avoid it. Personally, I'd like to think we can bag a top half place again.

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Chapter 23
A Really Disappointing Start
Tuesday 14th September 2027

So as we kick off the new Premier League season, and my 3rd in charge of the club, this is what our starting lineup looks like nowadays.

It wasn't the winning start I was looking for though and we have to settle for a point at home to Sunderland. We were 1-0 down for a while and Sunderland had the better of the first half for sure, but after Patson Daka's equalizer, we looked the only team that would go on and win the game, creating a number of good chances. The best fell to Leandro Trossard off the bench, who found himself one on one with just a minute remaining, only to see Roefs in the Sunderland goal pull off an incredible save to deny him.

Things didn't go to plan at all at The Emirates Stadium and Arsenal simply walked all over us! A demoralising defeat at such an early stage of the season and one we will need to show real character to bounce back from.

There's nothing like a marquee signing to boost the morale in the camp though and we welcome a new £12.5 million striker to the club, in the form of 25 year old Spaniard, Garcia Pascual. He comes in from Cadiz where he scored 21 goals in 33 La Liga 2 appearances last season. It may well have been the second tier of Spanish football, but this guy is an accomplished finisher and I feel quietly confident he can transfer his skills to the Premier League.

Pascual was unable to feature in our next game due to signing after the European squad regustration. Our opponents for the final qualifier to make the league phase of the Europa Conference League were Olympiacos...some would say a difficult tie against a regular in European competitions over the years. Depsite that, we carried an impressive 2-0 lead into the half time break out in Greece and looked to be cruising. However, a lacklustre performance in the second half allowed the home side to draw level and we will now have to try to get the job done at home if we want to make the next stage. On the face of it, a decent result, but disappointing considering we led by 2.

Our poor start to the season continued and we are still winless as we lose at home to Palace in the Premier League. Things just aren't going our way at the moment and again we let a lead slip through our fingers. We have to improve and quick!

With us still looking for our first win of the season, a new formation and tactic was created for the Olympiacos game as we look to qualify for the league phase of the Europa Conference League.

It didn't work and another disappointing performance results in an extra time defeat which means no European football for us this season. I can't even stress how disappointing this is for me on a personal level and the team too - a little European adventure would have been lovely this season, but it's not to be. Now we really have to start picking up some results in domestic football, or my job might be in jeapordy sooner rather than later.

Back in the Prem, it was Burnley that were next up and it had to be seen as a must win game for us. I reverted back to our previous formation, but a slightly more attacking version, with the two DMs pushed up into CM when we have possession. I also changed the mentality from our usual balanced or positive approach, to an attacking one. Although it did leave us exposed at the back at times, and saw us concede a couple of goals, we were sensational going forward and managed to outscore our opponents for the first time this season. Pascual bagged his first goal for the club, but it was our young Brazilian that ran riot down the left flank putting in a man of the match display.

It was back to back games against Burnley as we faced off against them in the Carabao Cup in our very next match. With home advantage on our side this time, we won by a much more comfortable scoreline, with Newertton once again shining as he scored the opener. Patson Daka came off the bench to score an impressive brace in the second half to ensure the game was well and truly put to bed.

Going to Anfield to take on Liverpool is a much tougher prospect than playing Burnley in back to back games, and that was proven by the fact we were hammered in the North West. We weren't competitive for majority of the game and were never really in the game. A really poor showing, but we deserved nothing from this and we got nothing.

We did bounce back against an Aston Villa side that have had about as poor a start to their season as we have. It was a tightly contested game that could have gone either way, but it was us that finished our chances better than they did and that was the difference across the 90 minutes. Newertton has been the shining light in the early stages of the season for us and he found himself on the scoresheet again here, with Mike Tresor and Leo Trossard combining for the 2nd which put the game out of Villa's reach.

After a really poor start to the season, a couple of wins in our last three games have at least seen us rise to a mid table posision after the opening 6 fixtures. It's still early days and I'm sure the next 6-7 games will shape which direction our season is going to go in.

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Chapter 24
Topsy Turvy Start To Season Continues
Saturday 27th November 2027

I said our next few games would shape our season, but if the Brentford result is anything to go by, we are really going to struggle. We were nothing short of ******* awful here!

It was time for another tactical change and to sure things up at the back, I decided a '3 at the back' formation was the way forward. I also wanted to try the idea of two number 10s, which was ironic as our next fixture was against Ruben Amorim's Manchester United side...a manager that also likes the two number 10s setup.

The new tactic did have an immediate impact as we pulled off our best result of the season so far, taking all three points, thanks to a 92nd minute winner from Garcia Pascual! Hopefully a sign of things to come!

But we couldn't follow it up against Fulham. Despite the momentum being with us throughout most of the match, along with creating 17 chances at the Fulham goal, we only just managed to save a draw with another late goal. A disappointing result based on how much we had dominated this match.

In the Carabao Cup, I took the decision to revert back to my trusted old formation against West Ham and the game developed into a goal fest, with the two of us sharing 7 goals. It was us that came out on top in the end, with an 86th minute winner eventually coming from substitute, Lucas Ribeiro, who hasn't had much football this season. Garcia Pascual was the star though with a good brace and our Spanish striker is proving he can do it in England during these early stages of his career.

Our next Premier League game would see us face a Brighton side that are flying. They're top of the league and have won 9 straight games in all competitions.

They were too strong for us and it's defeat again. It's hard to take any major positives from this game and our defence this year so far has been awful!

We did gain some redemption for the Brighton defeat with a win at Jose Mourinho's Bournemouth as our topsy turvy season continues. Garcia Pascual is proving to be signing of the season so far and it was his brace here that got us over the line to take the points. He is linking up well with the 3 attacking midfielders behind him and his tally now sits at 5 Premier League goals in 9 appearances.

Meanwhile, the best 50 players in the world are officially ranked and Real Madrid dominate with no less than 5 of their players making the top 10!!

Manchester City were our next opponents in the league and it was another defeat, although losing to potentially the best team in the country can be forgiven. Especially as we did put up a half decent performance and some would say we were unlucky not to get anything from the game.

We might not be flying high this season, but we did prove against Wolves that we are still head and shoulders above the worst teams in this division. Our most comfortable victory of the season by far and Wolves are really going to struggle this year if they continue to perform as badly as this.

We are now 13 games into the season and we sit 11th in the table. It's been a weird first few months of the campaign with some very good performances thrown in amongst a host of really poor ones. But on the plus side, we are keeping well away from the relegation zone and can look ahead to trying to break into the top half of the table...we just need a bit more consistency.

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Chapter 25
A Difficult Christmas Fixture List, Flanked By Carabao Cup Football
Wednesday 5th January 2028

Newly promoted Sheffield United came into our game bottom of the league with just 6 points to their name, so a win was expected. And a win we got, in a thrilling game that saw the two sides share 9 goals! It's a case of weird mixed emotions for me as I don't know whether to be happy about scoring 6 or ****** off about conceding 3 to the worst side in the division. I decided to celebrate the fact we scored 6 and worry about our defensive strategy later on. Patson Daka was given a start for this one and put an impressive display on for the fans as he scored a hat trick.

Well I told the defence I wanted more solidarity and a stronger performance against Everton and I got it as we keep a clean sheet. Newertton's 4th goal of the season was the difference between the sides and enough for us to secure the 3 points.

Our clash with Nottingham Forest was one between two sides that sit mid table but know that a couple of wins could push either into the European qualification spots. However, on this occasion neither side grabs the win and have to share the points, but I think it's a better point for us than them, as we fought back from 2-0 down to earn ours. On the balance of play, a fair result.

In the Carabao Cup quarter final, we had been drawn against Championship opposition in the form of Coventry. We took full advantage of the situation as we cruise through to the semis with a 2-0 victory. I have a few players at the moment that are looking for more starts in the first team and Kwadwo Baah and Leo Trossard both come under that banner...both got their wish here and both scored to stake their claim for more regular football.

Making the semi final of the cup is not the only thing I am celebrating this week, as I am handed a new 4 year deal by the club.

We picked up a good point at Stamford Bridge, back in the Prem. It was a game that saw them dominate most of the possession, but us create more of the chances. The two things cancelled one another out and we share the spoils. Newertton provided the low cross for Garcia Pascual to score our equaliser from close range.

And another very impressive point was won at home to Liverpool with only 10 men for a long time. We held our own against one of the best in the country and late on we could have stolen all the points, but Patson Daka blasted his shot wide when in the clear and one on one with the keeper in the 90th minute!

For the third game in a row, we got ourselves a draw against a side in the top 6 when Spurs came to town. However, this one has a bitter taste as I feel we missed an opportunity for the win as we let a 2-0 lead slip through our fingers.

The difficult games keep coming in quick succession over the Xmas period and Newcastle is about as hard an away day as it comes. And we very nearly fell to defeat when The Magpies went 3-2 up in the 90th minute. However, my lads are resilient as **** right now and we hit back 2 minutes later when Patson Daka latched on to a Lucas Ribeiro cross to tap in at the front post and we salvaged a draw right at the death.

There was again late action in the North East, but this time we were on the wrong end of it as Sunderland beat us 2-1 after a 91st minute winner from Toby Collyer. It certainly didn't help our cause that both my first choice goalkeepers are out injured, so 19 year old Jack Evans had to step in between the sticks and he struggled on debut.

We've passed the mid way point of the season and we do sit in the top half, which is once again overachieving against expectations. The top 6 have pulled away from the rest, whilst Sheffield United at the bottom already look destined for the drop.

That would lead us into the semi final of the Carabao Cup and we had drawn Brighton for the two legged affair. And wow, what a first leg it was as we smash The Seagulls at Vicarage Road 5-0 to give us one foot in the final! Five different goalscorers on the scoresheet in the rout as we put on a sensational attacking display.

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Chapter 26
FA Cup, Continuous Poor League Form And A New Deadline Day Signing
Thursday 24th February 2028

The FA Cup Third Round had delivered us a very difficult draw as we went to Stamford Bridge to take on Chelsea. We did lose the game and are out of the competition, but we took Chelsea all the way through 120 minutes of football and they celebrate but they know they've been in a game alright! A decent performance and unlucky to lose.

With January comes an open transfer window and my first deal is an outgoing player. I signed Brendan Chardonnet at the start of last season and he played 33 league games for us last year, but this season he has only featured in 4. He's also 33 years old now, so when Brest came in and offered me £9.25 million for a player I only paid £4.5 million for, it was a no brainer to let him leave the club.

Well this wasn't good...the worst result of our season by far as we lose at home to a Burnley side that are embroiled in the relegation battle. Terrible result and we must do better!

We very nearly bounced back in perfect fashion by beating Arsenal...that was until they scored a 92nd minute equalizer to deny us! Gutting!

We are on an awful run of form and extended our winless streak in the Premier League to 9 games with defeat at Palace. I walk away dumfounded on how we got nothing from this game after having 19 shots and 67 percent of the possession. Our finishing simply isn't good enough and if it doesn't improve soon, we will continue to slide down that table!

Again we lack that killer instinct in front of goal in the West Midlands and suffer yet another defeat against Aston Villa. That's ten games without a win and things are looking pretty precarious around the club now as people start to bring my job into question.

We couldn't win in the Carabao Cup either as we were beaten 2-1 by Brighton. Luckily, we had carried a 5-0 first leg advantage into the game and do still progress to the final. However, if this poor form continues, we have absolutely zero chance of lifting the trophy.

We might not get a better opportunity to win a cup either, as we don't even face Premier League opposition in the final...although fair play to Leeds who beat Man City in the semis to make it to Wembley.

Transfer deadline day came and went and I was bitterly disappointed to run out of time on the day to sign Connor Gallagher...a deal that was all but done.

We did manage to bring in one player though. 20 year old, Bruno Durdov, signs on loan for the remainder of the season from Manchester City and can hopefully make an impact in the final third where we have been definitely lacking of late.

I decided to try something new against Bournemouth in the hope that it would provide that all elusive win we need, and a switch up to a 4-1-2-3 with a wider attacking intent than my previous narrow focus. It didn't produce any goals but we were rock solid in defence...more so than in any other game I can remember this season...so it's swings and roundabouts.

The defence was again on top of their game against Nottingham Forest and finally we have a win in the Premier League to our name! Patson Daka latched on to new boy, Bruno Durdov's through ball and snuck his shot in at the far post from a tight angle. It was the only goal of the game, but it was enough!

No chance of us backing up that win with another as we walked into a red hot striking Viking in the form of Erling Haaland at The Etihad.

Just 10 games of the season remain and we are in amongst the mid table melee. Being completely honest, it's where we are likely to finish as we are too far off the top 7 to make any impact there and we are probably too good to get relegated.

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Chapter 27
Carabao Cup Final
Monday 10th April 2028

As long as we beat the teams that are below us, we will stay well out of the relegation battle. That's exactly what we did here against Wolves, although we did our best to throw away a 3-0 lead, allowing our opponents to get two back and going down to 10 men. However, in the end, we did hold on for an important 3 points.

We got the job done against Sheffield United as well, in a thriller of a game in which we came from 2-0 down to win with 10 men. Leandro Trossard came off the bench to inspire the comeback with 2 goals, but what was more surprising was that two assists in this game came from centre back David Affengruber. It's the first time in nearly 3 months we have won back to back games.

Our Premier League campaign has been pretty average this season and there will be no chance of pushing for a European qualification spot. However, the hope of playing European football next season is not dead as we have a Carabao Cup Final to play and if we can beat Leeds then we will indeed be playing in Europe next year.

Our lineup for the final saw Mike Tresor take the reigns up top as the false 9, whilst assist king from the last game, Affengruber keeps his place in the team at centre back alongside Callum Doyle. Marc Bola plays at left back as Berkay Yilmaz is suspended. Aaron Ramsdale is also absent through injury so Selvik gets the nod in goal.

The first half was absolute dross as the sides played out a boring and nervey affair. I challenged my lads at half time to inject a spark into the game and they delivered in the second period, scoring 3 times to ensure we lift the Carabao Cup for the first time in the club's history!! Mike Tresor was a constant threat in that second half and he set up Trossard who scores from the bench again, before despatching a penalty to seal the win in the dying minutes.

The cup win does mean we will get another go at qualifying for the Europa Conference League again next season.

This year's youth intake is not great, with just a single elite prospect coming through the ranks.

It will be interesting to see how 15 year old Jermaine Gormley develops and if he can one day break into the first team.

Despite still being on a high from the cup win, we were unable to raise our game enough to beat Newcastle and it's another defeat in the Premier League.

We flashed out of the starting traps against Everton, as Mike Tresor put us 1-0 up inside a minute, only for Garcia Pascual to double our lead just on half time. We were cruising at the break and this looked nothing short of a comfortable victory. However, the resilience of my team came into question once again as we throw the lead and end up having to settle for a draw. Disappointing...as so many of our games have been in the Premier League this season.

It was a repeat of the Everton game at The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, where again we got ourselves 2 goals in front, only to be pegged back. Mike Tresor was again on the scoresheet early doors in this one, this time only taking 7 minutes to score and he added a second later on to put us 3-2 up. However, again we were held after being in front and it's a single point we have to make do with.

That leaves just 5 games of the season remaining and we are sitting 12th at this stage. We won't get relegated but a bad run in our last few matches could still see us finish lower down the table, whilst on the flip side, if we can string together a few wins, we have every chance of finishing in the top half again.

 

[dporter8999]

Congrats on the cup win, I'm sure Watford would be loving that right now!

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Congrats on the cup win, I'm sure Watford would be loving that right now!

Thanks mate. Nice to bag the trophy which gives us another shot at Europe next year, seeing as we won't be getting it via the league. I'll thank my lucky stars for the fact I got Championship opposition in the final though

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Chapter 28
An Awful End To The Season
Wednesday 17th May 2028

Last time we played Chelsea, Liam Delap proved to be a handful for us as he scored a hat trick. This time round, he was just a potent leading the front line and bagged a brace as we are beaten by them again. Liam Delap has single handedly destroyed us this year.

We lose at Old Trafford as well. Normally, losing to Manchester United would potentially be acceptable for a team like us, but they are 10th in the table and not doing much better than us, so I felt we should have got something from this. The more and more we rack up these bad results, the more I am thinking the squad needs a total overhaul this Summer.

Another game, another bad result, as we are beaten at home to Fulham. I have to admit I am just counting down the days to the end of this season now!

We made it 4 defeats in a row against Brighton and more worryingly that's no wins in 7 again! If we carry this form into next season, we will be lucky to stay up...we need to sort it out over the Summer!

There were almost no surprises inside Vicarage Road as we finish the game with another defeat to Brentford...one of our worst results of the season to lose at home to a side that have been relegated. We have been just terrible over the past few months!

It means we finish the season in 14th. The board and fans are still happy with this as we again steered well clear of the relegation places, but on a personal level, I have to say I am disappointed!

There is no doubt in my mind that we need major changes this Summer and luckily the board are willing to back me with a £54 million budget to improve things. I fully expect some players to be leaving the club which should bolster my transfer kitty as well.

 

[CrokayVessel]

Annoying end to the season however great to get a cup win there! Rebuild required & loading!