Turning The World Upside Down, One Country At A Time

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Annan Season 5 Pre-Season

Out

Release
This wasn't a major change of player just getting the ones out that i didn't need to make way for some higher quality players for premiership. The end of season saw me release no less than 7 players who weren't up to standard. Due to different contract dates the first three to go were Bobby Linn, Seejou King and Stuart McColm shortly followed by Faissel El Bakhtaoui. I was sad to see Linn and McColm go as they been great parts of the growth but this level they were just too old and were dropping down the pecking order. Seejou King and Faissel Bakhtaoui were just panic buys and gap fills i regard these two as some my worst signing and both just never really got going. Next to leave was one of my day one player Steven Swinglehurst didn't want to see him go but had to be done to bring in better standard player. The last two player leave were both young players Daniel Kavanagh and Craig Walker.


Full Time
There were two full time deals went through during the transfer period GK Craig McDowall left to join Stirling on 2.5K deal and Aswad Thomas would join Braintree on a 4K deal. Both had been great servants to the club.

Loans
This transfer period saw us loan out to two players both youth players. Lewis Murray and Scott Wallace would join Ayr to the end of season.

In

Full Time

The deal that when through was 30K bid for Scott Lochhead. The 22 year old arrived from Dundee United and can play in a lot of different position.

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I need did a big shop of Free Transfer Market the first person I would bring in would Jack Leitch a 23 year old former of Rangers. This transfer will be a good signing with him being a player who played in Prem before.

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With Craig McDowall leaving to join Stirling a gap opened in goalkeeper department. I blindly sign 25 year old goalkeeper Ederson on free transfer. On paper this would look be a great signing with Ederson being Rio Ave No 1 for many years

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Another good on paper signing made was Right Back Ruben Aguilar. The French 26 year old had spent most of his career in his home country and at his high played with St Etienne.

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I took another gamble with 21 year old Welsh/Somalian Winger Abdi Noor. Abdi Noor only had one start in his whole career but it was with premier league side Cardiff so its risk but will it pay off

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I had would make one more further deal which was for 29 year old Spanish winger Javillio. I felt it was too much of risk just having Noor as my only winger so i signed him as a starter and I hoped to play Noor as a understudy to get experience. One problem is that don't want Javillio to end up like Garban who I couldn't get rid of.

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Loans

The Final deal that I made was resigning Michael Kelly back to the club on another loan deal.

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The Team

After all of the in and out the final team looked like this

GK: John Gibson, Ederson
RB: David Symington, Tennai Watson, Ruben Aguilar
LB: Boli Bolingoli -Mbombo
CB: Micheal Kelly, Andy Parry, Miguel Lourenco, Steven Ruprecht
CM: Ross Forbes, Ambroise Begue, Scott Lochhead, Ross Davidson, Jack Leitch
RM: Garban, Abdi Noor, Javillio
LM: Cameron Park
ST: David Hopkirk, Scott Wright, Kyle Dempsey, Emanuele Bardelloni, Gary Oliver

*Lewis Murray and Scott Wallace

Note: it may seem like i have no LBs or LMs but a lot of the player play two positions

Squad Numbers

1 John Gibson
2 Ruben Aguilar
3 Boli Bolingoli Mbombo
4 Ross Forbes
5 Miguel Loucenco
6 Andy Parry
7 Javillio
8 Ambroise Begue
9 David Hopkirk
10 Scott Wright
11 Gary Oliver
12 Tennai Watson
13 Ederson
14 Jack Leitch
15 Steven Ruprecht
16 Ross Davidson
17 Emanuelle Bardelloni
18 Abdi Noor
19 Cameron Park
20 Diego De Girolamo
21 Jack Barmby
22 Micheal Kelly
23 Lima Perriera
24 Scott Lochhead
31 Garban (Moved to this number as i was trying sell but failed)
32 David Symington(Moved to this number as i was trying sell but failed)
40 Scott Wallace *on loan
41 Dougie Macari
42 Lewis Murray *on loan

The Strongest Line-Up in my opinion

( 4-5-1 ) with a AMR/L : Ederson, Aguilar, Kelly, Loucenco, Boli Bolingoli Mbombo, Leitch, Begue, Davidson, Javillio, Park, Bardelloni
Subs: Gibson, Perriera, Watson, Dempsey, Noor, Wright, Oliver

Pre-Season


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We had another short pre-season of just 3 games against Bath City, Dunfermline and Institute all three games being away from home. We showed our strength by smashing Bath 4-0 Bardelloni, Park and Oliver all scoring. This continued into the 2nd game against Dunfermline as we won 5-2 goals from Javillo, Wright and Oliver. The Institute game could of been better only managing a 1-1 draw courtesy of Scott Wright.

 


Forgot to make post should of been a few posts back but this the review of how Euro 2016 in France panned out. Unfortunately with me forgetting to post this it has rolled over to the Euro 2020 one so I cant get stadium data etc.
The 24 teams included in this tournament were in order of Fifa Ranking:

England (2),Spain (3) ,Croatia (5),Germany (6.),Belgium (9), France (10),Italy (11),Russia (12),Holland (16),Portugal (17),Switzerland (18),Wales (20), Sweden (21) ,Ukraine (30),Romania (36), Slovakia (39),Austria (41)
,Serbia (44), Poland (45),Bosnia (46),Norway (57),Turkey (59),Greece (61),Scotland (62)

As a English man I did find funny that England were highest ranking team and Scotland were the Lowest.

Favourites: England or Spain (Can't Believe this)
Underdogs: Croatia, Belgium
Whipping Boys: Greece, Scotland
Shock Non appearance: Czech Republic, R.O.Ireland and Denmark

Groups

Group A : France, Russia, Austria and Turkey
Group B : Germany, Italy, Slovakia and Bosnia
Group C : England, Spain, Wales and Norway
Group D : Belgium, Holland, Sweden, Romania
Group E : Croatia, Portugal, Greece and Scotland
Group F: Switzerland, Ukraine, Serbia and Poland

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Group A
As you can from the screenshots there was a shock as Russia and Austria claimed the two automatic slots leaving group favourites France in the cold.

Automatic Qualification : Russia and Austria


Group B

Germany absolute blow the competition away by winning all three games and there was a major shock as Bosnia who were ranked to be the whipping boys of group pipped Italy to gain qualification

Automatic Qualification : Germany and Bosnia

Group C
England easily cruised into the group stage winning every game and there was yet another shock as Norway pipped Spain to gain the other spot

Automatic Qualification : England and Norway

Group D

No shocks in Group C as Belgium and Holland take the two spots with Sweden just missing out on slot through goal difference.

Automatic Qualification : Belgium and Holland

Group E

Another shock as Portugal didn't make automatic qualification as they were beaten by Croatia and Greece

Automatic Qualification : Croatia and Greece

Group F

Switzerland easily claimed there place as they should but the shock as Poland the lowest ranked team in the group made it through

Automatic Qualification : Switzerland and Poland

Knockout Stages

To cut to the chase here is the results of the knockout rounds


Some big teams were eliminated in the Second Round England, Portugal and France were all chucked out. The Quarter and Semi Final provided no shocks and lead to Holland v Germany Final. The final at the Stade de France ended 1-0 win to Germany with Michael Christ scoring the winner.


Final Thoughts

Winners: Germany - Total Domination clear winners
Overachievers: Russia - Managed to make it to the Semis and were not Embarrassed
Overachievers: Belgium - Showing they are force for future by making the semis
Underachievers: England - Dumped out in Second Round
Underachievers: Spain- Sneaked Through then Dumped out in Second Round

Dream Team
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Germany win the European Cup but not one player makes the dream team FM logic haha.Alexandr Kerzhakov has the tournament top scorer and Wesley Sneijder was voted best player​
 
Final 2020 at Stade de France? Shouldn't it be Wembley?
 
dllu said:
Final 2020 at Stade de France? Shouldn't it be Wembley?
Click to expand...

This is a review of France Euro 2016 so the final was at Stade De France but I forgot to review this so its rolled over to 2020 and is showing on search bar was too lazy to go back through my old saves haha but you are correct the 2020 final Is at Wembley somebody has s good eye haha. I am going to the 2018 world cup next so it's all update.
 
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World Cup 2018​
Before I get back into my Annan Career I thought I would do a review of World Cup 2018. Despite major debates about the host nation it has remained in same place..... Welcome to Russia.


There were 32 teams present at the finals but who?
Africa(5): Algeria, Cameroon , Ivory Coast, South Africa and Zambia
Asia(5): Australia, Japan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Korea
Europe(14): Belgium, Croatia, England, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Portugal, Russia, Serbia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Ukraine.
North America (3) : Honduras, Mexico, U.S.A
South America (5): Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay

Now FM is known for being wack but he is FIFA Ranking of those teams haha

Mexico (1) England (2) Spain (3) Argentina (4) Croatia (5) Germany (6 ) Brazil (7) Colombia (8) Belgium (9) France (10) Italy (11) Russia (12) Cameroon (14) Paraguay (15) Holland (16) Portugal (17) Switzerland (18) Algeria (19) Sweden (21) Japan (25) South Korea (27) Ecuador (28) Ukraine (30) U.S.A (31) South Africa (34) Zambia (35) Australia (40) Saudi Arabia (42) Serbia (44) Ivory Coast (52) Qatar (53) Honduras (81)

Favourites: on paper it should be Mexico or England but I think Spain or Argentina
Underdogs : Belgium or Russia or possible Colombia cause a shock
Whipping Boys : Zambia, Qatar, Honduras
Shock Non Appearances : Nigeria, Wales, Ghana, Senegal and Czech Republic all highly risked but don't feature.

Groups

Group A: Spain, Russia, Japan, Ecuador
Group B: Argentina, Ukraine, Saudi Arabia, Serbia
Group C: Mexico, Belgium, Portugal, Paraguay
Group D: Colombia, Switzerland, South Korea, Zambia
Group E : England, Germany, Cameroon, Australia
Group F: Italy, Algeria, Sweden, Honduras
Group G: Croatia, Holland, Ivory Coast, Qatar
Group H: Brazil, France, South Africa, U.S.A

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Group A

Spain were the out and out favourites which they did with flying colours. The second slot was given Japan who sneaked there way through by beat Russia and eliminating the host nation.

Qualification: Spain and Japan

Group B

Group B had the same story Argentina absolute bossed the group but it was Saudi Arabia that cause shock with upset against Ukraine

Qualification: Argentina and Saudi Arabia

Group C

The group of death is where the biggest shock was Portugal only managing to pick up 1 point which was probably have Ronaldo spitting his dummy out. Mexico for some reason the world's No 1 would take the first slot with 2 wins and draw to Portugal. Belgium would overcome Paraguay to get there

Qualification: Mexico and Belgium
Group D

The weakest group competition had 3 teams going for 2 slot to be fair Zambia were lucky to be there. it came to down to last matches but South Korea and Colombia would pip Switzerland to get there

Qualification: South Korea and Colombia
Group E

Group E provided no shock it was obvious that arguably two of the biggest nations in the cup were going through England and Germany swept the Australia and Cameroon away

Qualification: England and Germany
Group F

Same as Group D don't really know Honduras managed to get the World cup. Italy would qualify 1st and Algeria got a shock win against Sweden to go through

Qualification: Italy and Algeria
Group G

Croatia would qualify with ease in Group G but biggest scare was that Qatar nearly overturn Holland however Holland were able to just stop them.

Qualification: Croatia and Holland
Group H

Closer Group of the all had to be this one with Brazil qualify top of the group and U.S.A and France would finish on same points and goal difference. U.S.A went through don't ask me how

Qualification: U.S.A and France

Knockout Stage

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No major shocks in the second round all the better teams went through. Two major shocks in Quarter Final Croatia would overturn Euro Champions Germany and England would beat Brazil on Penalties (Your not seeing things). Another shock that England would overturn World No 1 Mexico to line up to Final against Spain. There would be heartbreak for England as Spain would be them 2-1 in the final on cold day in St Petersburg at New Zenit Stadium.
Final Thoughts


Winners: Spain -Rough route but there a the Champions
Overachievers: Croatia - Touted as Quarter Final material but Managed to make it to the Semis and were not Embarrassed
Overachievers: Mexico- Would of liked to have been in the but they will happy with 3rd
Underachievers: Portugal- A mess can only describe it
Underachievers: Holland - How did they get the Second Round?

Dream Team

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Really Jordan Henderson in the Dream Team? few other eyebrow raiser feature. Diego Costa was Best Player and Romelu Lukuku was top goalscorer but still make team as Messi was chosen.
 
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Annan Season 5 First Half Review 2018/2019

With us now being the Scottish Premiership we have a few changes in cup challenges. We would end at a higher stage of the Scottish Cup but we wouldn't be able to compete in the Scottish Challenge Cup because were too good for that now. This is the review of the first half of the season:

Scottish League Cup
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The First round saw us get an easy draw of Stenhousemuir Fc of the Scottish League 2 and to be honest it was a total blowout with us crushing them 4-0. The goals coming Noor, an O.G. from Shields, Ruprecht and De Girolamo.

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The Second round was a similar occurrence with us drawn against Scottish Championship side Falkirk. We also made this one look easy winning 3-0 the goals coming Ruprecht, Barmby and Wright.

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The third round draw would be slightly harder pitting us against division rivals Hamilton. The game wasn't really one to remember Miguel Loucenco would net for us 5 minutes in and that would the game.

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Unfortunately the Quarter Final would be where would jump off as we drawn against Celtic who absolutely battered us dumping us out 4-0. ****...

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14/15 - Second Round
15/16 - First Round
16/17 - Second Round
17/18- Second Round
18/19- Quarter Final


Scottish Cup

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Not much to record in this compettion yet as we entered in round 4 against Rangers who sit in the Scottish Championship. A tall showing Boli-Bolingoli Mbombo who netted 2 before being injured. Jack Barmby would slot in a 3rd before Mark Beck got one back for Rangers. Abdi Noor would help finish the game 4-1.

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Continued in Second Half of Season

Scottish Premiership

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My target this season is really to just help Annan stay up and fight a second year. The season was very yo-yo with us up and down between 6th-10th and 10th is where currently due to injures hopeful I can get them higher second half of season.

 
Annan Season 5 Second Half Review 2018/2019

Transfers

In

Absolutely nobody joins the club in January, No one, Zilch, zip, Nada.
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Out

There were four outgoing deals arranged which Scott Wright leave on a loan deal to East Fife. The striker had been largely disappointing resulting in him dropping down the pecking order and was happy about it. East Fife also completed a 3K for Cameron Park who had appearances restricted with the arrival of Jack Barmby. Andy Parry would be next to leave on 1K deal to Chester City. The final departure would be Mark Timlin who hadn't had the best of careers at Annan and was released to join Arbroath to play along side past Annan players like M'Vila and Gallagher.

Season

This is the review of the second half of the season from

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Scottish Premiership
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Despite being in 10th place at the half way point we managed to pick ourselves up and get a respectable 5th finish which means we have chance at entering the UEFA Cup this year. I can only say this was down to one man Emanuelle Bardelloni. He was killing it with 24 goals in 39 games some guy like.
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Scottish Cup

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We continued in this cup at the 5th Round where we met Scottish Championship Morton. We looked comfort in this game going to 2-0 up in 16 minutes through Javillio and Gary Oliver. We were able to hold this lead til 76 minute where Morton would bring it back to 2-1 and equalise in the 86 minute to take to a replay. The replay started the same way with us going 2-0 through Ruprecht and Begue but this time would 3-0 as Javillio would net again
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The Quarter Final would see us face Championship side Ross County at the Galabank. The game was very boring game only few shots testing the keepers. The major talking point was goal just after halftime a header from CB Michael Kelly which would put in the Semi Final.
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OH NO... The Semi draw wasn't kind we faced Celtic who had embarrassed us before but this was team we have to get revenge against. The game was made a whole lot easier when Celtic's Mensah was sent off after only 2 minutes ha. The deadlock would not be broken til the 72 minute by Emanuele Bardelloni and we thought that would win it nope. Celtic would bring back to 1-1 9 minutes from the end. Nothing happened in extra time forgot it like didn't haha. We would win the penalty shootout 13-12 yeah 13-12 - Oliver (2), Begue (2), Barmby, Boli-Bolingoli Mbombo,, Davidson, Javillio, Ruprecht, Loucenco, Kelly, Leitch and Gibson all converting OH YES.....
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We had shocked everyone by making the Scottish Cup Final could we take it all the way and win the cup. Our Fonal opponents would Hearts at Hampden Park in Glasgow, 52,000 people were in attendance to see what was about to unfold. The team I fielded was as follows:

Starting 11

1 John Gibson
2 Ruben Aguilar
5 Miguel Loucenco
15 Steven Ruprecht
3 Boli- Bolingoli Mbombo
18 Abdi Noor
8 Ambroise Begue
7 Javillio
14 Jack Leitch
21 Jack Barmby
17 Emanuelle Bardelloni
Subs

45 Derek Campbell
12 Tennai Watson
20 Diego De Girolamo
11 Gary Oliver
46 Grahame Brown
41 Scott Wallace
40 Jamie Brown

I had to name 4 youngsters among the bench some have never made an appearance but due to injury had got there bench seats. The first half of the game was all Hearts but our defensive approach stop them from scoring. A slip in concentration early in the second half lead to Hearts going 1-0 and shortly make it 2-0 through Osman Sow. I switched up the formation by bringing on Gary Oliver to play upfront with Bardelloni. This would be a changing moment as both Bardelloni and Oliver would score late to take it to extra time. This continued into extra time as Bardelloni would net his second to make 3-2 Annan. The second half would see Hearts pull back to 3-3 very late taking to penalties. Our success rate on penalties continued as beat Hearts 5-3 - Oliver, Begue, De Girolamo, Boli Bolingoli - Mbombo all scoring. That means WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS.......

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Awards

Player of The Season

Third year straight Emanuelle Bardelloni takes it he only gets better and better 22 goals then 24 goals this season he gets 26 unbeatable

2014/2015- Kenny Mackay
2015/2016- Stuart McColm
2016/2017-Emanuelle Bardelloni
2017/2018-Emanuelle Bardelloni
2018/2019-Emanuelle Bardelloni

Team of The Season

The Team was as follows

Starting 11: Ederson, Aguilar, Loucenco, Ruprecht, Boli Bolingoli, Begue, Lochhead, Noor, Barmby, Bardelloni, De Girolamo
Subs : Gibson, Kelly, Leitch, Davidson, Oliver, Perriera, Wright

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And all-time team stands like this :

Standing 11 : Martini, Symington, Kelly, Swinglehurst, Boli-Bolingoli Mbombo, Dempsey, Begue, Linn, Barmby, Bardelloni, Hopkirk
Subs : Gibson, Loucenco, McColm, Gallagher, Oliver, Thomas, Wright

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Some changes in the line up Boli-Bolingoli Mbombo, Begue and Barmby all join the starting line up. Thomas, Gallagher and McColm all takes bench seats. Parry, Todd, McDowall and Mackay all leave the team and Gibson, Loucenco and Oliver join (This took longer than should to work than it should)
 
Annan Season 6 Pre-Season 2019/2020

Upgrades

I didn't mention but last season the club was bought by new owners I was going mention but couldn't remember when it was think January. Anyways they came in hard and told me that if didn't continue win I would be replaced by another manager cant remember who, he was a wasteman anyways and thought it was unfair seen as i got Anna to Prem from League 2. I won those matches therefore earning the chairman trust. The chairman seemed keen to spend money on the club and decide i would have team meeting to test this. This was the outcome:

The first thing i asked for to expand the Galabank has we were getting attendance of 2,500 compare to Celtic 40,000+. This was granted and the Galabank would be expanded to 5,028 that is a increase of 2,514 costing 2 Million pounds.

The next thing I agreed with Chairman Brian Adams would be a 650K update to the Youth Facilities to bring them back to standard


The final update would be to the training facilities to bring them back up to standard. This would cost a further 650K mounting the costs up to 3.4 Million expensive meeting.


Transfers

Out

Release

At the end of the season we would see 4 players not renew their contracts these players were Ross Forbes, David Symington, Garban and David Hopkirk. Ross Forbes was struggling to make first team appearance so went else where. Symington and Hopkirk had been fantastic servants to the club but just couldn't keep up to the pace and pressure of the prem. Garban was one of my weaker signings never really hit it off at Annan only came alive in cup games which for wages wasn't good enough. I also released 5 youth players that weren't up to standard Dougie Macari, Bobby Aitken, Lewis Murray, Ryan McGinn and Ben Bowden. Macari was the only one to make an appearance getting to 2 caps in goals when other choices were injured.

Loan

The summer transfer period saw me finalise 4 loan deal out the club 1 Senior and 3 youth players. I decided to sent Diego De Girolamo on loan to Raith Rovers for a season to get some experience as he wasn't get game after game in Annan due to likes of Oliver, Wright and New arrivals. The other deals were Grahame Brown to Queen of The South, Jamie Brown to Cowdenbreath and Kevin Scott to Brora Rangers.


Full Time

No Full time departures

In

The First deal was 23 year old Scottish CM James Jones from Inverness CT. He joins on a free deal and would slot right into Ross Forbes spot.

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The Second deal was bring club favourite Michael Kelly back to the club but finally on full time basic as he was released by Dundee United

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Next I would strike a huge deal with former Man City and Newcastle Right Winger Martin Samuelsen. The 22 year old Norwegian was valued at 3 Million but I got him on a free deal I see this a great signing.

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I was very familiar with Caolan Lavery from football knowledge and previous signing him on past saves. I saw the Northern Irish striker was available on free so I signed as a cover to Bardelloni and Oliver.

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Peterbrough was come into some difficulty after being relegated from the Championship so they were selling off players. I picked up former Chelsea man Stipe Perica on a free deal. The 23 year old striker may have only played for Chelsea at youth level but had played NAC Breda, Rotherham, Birmingham and Peterborough at first team level. one for the future.....

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To strengthen my defence i brought in a player every football fan should know George Elokobi. The 33 year old Cameroonian powerhouse has played for variety of team and would hopeful break some legs in the Scottish Prem.

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I signed in another huge signing Manuel Benson Hedilazio of Belgium. The 2.1M rated Winger was a big thing in the Belgian league and I very close to international call-ups so I don't why i was allowed to get him on free haha

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With Annan making the UEFA cup qualifying stage I had have a certain number of home grown players and I was one player short. I finally came across Aaron Muirhead a former player of the club about 7 years ago. I negioate a deal with Hamilton for 49.5K to join the club.

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If people didn't know who George Elokobi they surely know of my next signing. I managed to finalise a deal for former Manchester United and Newcastle United(In this game he joined them) Winger Ashley Young. Yes given this 2019 and Young is 34 I think he got another 2 seasons in him and surely it will get shirt sales.

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The Team

After all of the in and out the final team looked like this

GK: John Gibson, Ederson
RB: Tennai Watson, Ruben Aguilar
LB: Boli Bolingoli -Mbombo
CB: Micheal Kelly, Miguel Lourenco, Steven Ruprecht, Aaron Muirhead, George Elokobi
CM: Ambroise Begue, Scott Lochhead, Ross Davidson, Jack Leitch, James Jones
RM: Abdi Noor, Javillio, Martin Samuelsen
LM: Manuel Benson Hedilazio, Ashley Young
ST: Scott Wright, Emanuele Bardelloni, Gary Oliver, Caolan Lavery, Stipe Perica

*Diego De Girolamo is on loan at Raith

Squad Numbers

1 John Gibson
2 Ruben Aguilar
3 Boli Bolingoli -Mbombo
4 James Jones
5 Miguel Lourenco
6 George Elokobi
8 Ambroise Begue
9 Caolan Lavery
10 Scott Wright
11 Gary Oliver
12 Tennai Watson
13 Ederson
14 Jack Leitch
15 Steven Ruprecht
16 Ross Davidson
17 Emanuele Bardelloni
18 Abdi Noor
19 Martin Samuelsen
20 Manuel Benson Hedilazio
21 Jack Barmby
22 Michael Kelly
23 Lima Perriera
24 Scott Lochhead
25 Aaron Muirhead
26 Stipe Perica
34 Ashley Young

The Strongest Line-Up in my opinion

( 4-5-1 ) with a AMR/L : Ederson, Aguilar, Elokobi, Loucenco, Boli Bolingoli Mbombo, Leitch, Begue, Davidson, Samuelsen, Benson Hedilazio, Bardelloni
Subs: Gibson,Kelly, Barmby, Young, Noor, Wright, Oliver

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Pre-Season

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Our looked very standard this year three games against French's Nice, English's Dagenham and Redbridge and Northern Irish's Crusaders. We won the first game 3-0 the newbies ran riot Caolan Lavery and Martin Samuelsen both on the scoresheet and Ambroise Begue would hit a late third

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We wouldn't fair aswell in the second game losing to a early from Dagenham and Redbridge not much more to say....

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The final game against Crusaders was great end too this three game stint with us winning 2-0 goals courtesy of Steven Ruprecht and Manuel Benson Hedilazio.

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Annan Season 6 First Half of Season 2019/2020

I finished in a respected 5th last season which showed we were here to play. I think we can push a little higher this year and go for Champions League spots. we would enter into the 3rd round of qualifying for Europa League because of out 5th place finish

This is the review of the first half of season
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Scottish Cup
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Obviously because our improvement over the years we enter into this cup in the 4th Round against League 1 side Queen of South. We totally dominated this game bagging 5 goals in the first half one from Scott Wright and Emanuelle Bardelloni went nuts and scored 4. He must of forgot which goal he was shooting at in the second half as he give Queen of South a goal to finish the game 5-1.

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This would be the only game we played this half of the season more in the next update

Scottish League Cup

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Our Scottish League Cup journey would begin in Glasgow at the Ibrox. We had showed Rangers we were the better this season and were confident of progression. The game was very even both teams pulling shots but rangers scored in late in the first half. This would continue late into the game until Gary Oliver was able to pull back a equaliser. We were treated to extra time first game of round and as you know we were one extra time and usually end up as penalties. This was not the case Oliver picks out a perfect 40 yard pass to Lochhead who tries to round the keeper but get tackled and knocks into the path of Caolan Lavery who slot into a open net Annan 2 Rangers...

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We would stay in Glasgow for Quarter Final this time facing Celtic and this time came prepared. I set the tactics as a 5-4-1 formation and keep the team behind of the majority of the game. Both the goals came from set-pieces, Martin Samuelsen and Manuel Benson Hedilazio being the scorer. Boli Bolingoli Mbombo was a very useful player in this game as I was able use him in LB/ST which enable me to switch between 5-4-1 and 4-4-2.

Continues Second Half of Season

Scottish Premiership

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The Scottish Premiership remained a three horse race between us, Celtic and Hearts few points separated. Celtic sat firm at the top with Us and Hearts exchange between 2nd and 3rd as when the chance to arises we weren't taking them. With the right results we had a decent chance

Europa League

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To make the Europa League would have go through the qualifying and playoffs rounds and there were some big teams in there. We entered in the final qualifying against Swedish Malmo FF the birthplace of the great Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Our stadium did not meet the criteria to the first leg was a at Raydale Park in Gretna. It was a very even we did take control abit which lead to take 1-0 win courtesy of Jack Barmby. The Second leg was better Malmo FF played a lot better even leading 1-0 but Michael Kelly would pull back to 1-1 and give us that cushion. Elias Westerlund had quickly went from Malmo hero to villain as after he netted for Malmo we would decide the game by scored for Annan aswell. We went through 3-1 on aggregate.

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[/RIGHT]The playoff would see us face Dutch side PSV Eindhoven who had became a weaker side in this game unable to grab the top from Ajax and Feyenoord aswell as selling many of the better players including Memphis Depay who would join Liverpool not Man Utd in this game interesting and annoying as United fan myself. I played the exactly same tactic against PSV got a early goal through James Jones and parked the bus. the game finished 1-0 to us despite PSV take 27 shots 20 more than us. The second leg was a battle in Eindhoven I tried to deploy the same tactics again getting a early goal scored by Benson Hedilazio but this was instantly countered 1-1. PSV would threaten just before half time make it 2-1. Half time need some serious hairdrying treatment and tactic change. This would work sending us into the lead (on agg) 2-2. PSV weren't finished they brought back to 3-2 but we hold on by the skin of our teeth to go through on away goal.
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Group Stage

We entered into the group stage drawn into the Group L against Ukrainian side Dynamo Kyiv, German side Hoffenheim and French side Bordeaux. On paper this seem like a good drawn .. wrong this is now 6 years down the like Kyiv are title challenge in Ukraine, Hoffenheim were making charges on Munich and Dortmund and Bordeaux were playing 3rd place football behind PSG and Monaco. To put it simply we were the new boys and the whipping boys of the group.
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Well that was a .....experience haha. I'm not going waffle on about the games as to be honest we were well out of place in the competition didn't even look like winning a game and finished with 0 points DEAD. We did manage to score 4 goals Emanuelle Bardelloni (2), Boli Bolingoli Mbombo and Aaron Muirhead (Pen). To really challenge more in this competition i need more players for more squad depth and also better ones that go the distance. I'll leave to the screenshots so you can see the damage.

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Despite our elimination from Europa League we remain in the Scottish League Cup and Scottish Cup and had chance at the title can we do it..........
 

Annan Season 6 Second Half of Season 2019/2020

Transfers

In

No Transfer arrived at the club in this period

Out

Full Time

The only full time deal of the window wasn't even a first team player and wasn't considered to be near first team. Grahame Brown who you may remember I had sent on loan to Queen of the South to gain experience. The 17 year old was scouted to be a star Scottish Premiership i didn't see personally he failed make a single start for me. His new home would be Norwich City in the premiership signing on 400k deal breaking the club record. he certain one to watch.

Loans

The first loan deal confirmed was right back Tennai Watson to Mansfield Town. Tennai had found it hard this season under Ruben Aguilar and this was the option due him making 0 appearances. Similar story for the second deal Steven Ruprecht who joined Berwick City for a 3 month deal. The defender was getting older but didn't want to sell him as seen him as safety net.


Release

The dumped four youths out the squad that were really going go very far and felt were chewing up the wage budget Derek Campbell, Kevin Christie, Gordon Easton and Mark Finnie left with immediate.



Season

This is the review of the second half of the season from

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Scottish League Cup

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So in the last post we had became the ultimate giant killers by knocking out Rangers and Celtic by using defensive tactics and parking the bus. So in the Semi Final it was obvious we would get another heavyweight in the league Dundee United. Due to injury was missing some major players (Emanuelle Bardelloni and Gary Oliver) so I had to opt for my usual 4-5-1 as oppose to the 5-3-2 and 5-4-1 i had used against Celtic and Rangers. The injury to my main two strikers ment that Stipe Perica was lone striker and prior to this game had only netted 3 times you can see why was concerned but were warriors

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I'm not going to lie we were absolutely batter by Dundee United but somehow we came out on top with a goal from Scott Lochhead playing against his former club. You only have to look at the stats to see we shouldn't of won 34 shots from Dundee United. Anyways we march on to the final ....that's football...

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I smiled when I looked to see who my final opponents would be Championship side Hamilton Academical. They were weaker opponents but not to be underestimated. We found ourselves at Hampden Park at Glasgow once again but only 11,500 in attend really shows the size of the teams involved RUDE. This the line-up I chose to play...

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(4-2-2-2)
Starting Line-Up
13 Ederson
2 Ruben Aguilar
25 Aaron Muirhead
6 George Elokobi
3 Boli Bolingoli-Mbombo
8 Ambroise Begue
16 Ross Davidson
18 Abdi Noor
21 Jack Barmby
10 Scott Wright
26 Stipe Perica

Subs
1 John Gibson
22 Micheal Kelly
19 Martin Samuelsen
20 Manuel Benson Hedilazio
5 Miguel Loucenco
24 Scott Lochhead
17 Emanuelle Bardelloni

As you can see I fielded a weaker squad to rest players like Bardelloni, Benson Hedilazio, Loucenco and Samuelsen. I also spotted a former player in Hamilton lineup Scott Allardice who became a star player for so a few year ago for us and tried to renew the loan only him snake us and go to rivals Ross County so hard tackles on him haha

As finals go this was an absolute bore with the game complete even most way through we did control the second half an eventually we scored 5 minutes from the end Ross Davidson. CHAMPIOOOOOONNNNNSSSSSS

Scottish Premiership

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When I posted last time we were sitting in third position just behind Celtic and Hearts. Our new year didn't start off very well with us losing to Celtic and Inverness CT. After this found form in late January an only record 2 loses putting us into pole position going in the championship group. We dropped points in the first game against Hearts but were able to the next few games back even getting a win over Celtic on the way. All we had to do on the last day was win to confirm us to be a upset champions. We went 1-0 up early through Jack Leitch and had hold on for 50mins which only just managed to do crowning in us CHAMPIONS.......HAHAHA

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Scottish Cup

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Our 5th Round draw would see us travel to Station Park against League challengers Forfar a very kind draw. Forfar proved to be no match as right the outset as scored an own goal just 3 minutes in and then found themselves 2-0 down after the just 5 minutes through Scott Wright. The game would stay like this until 78 minute when Stipe Perica would make it three. 5 minutes later Manuel Benson Hedilazio would make it 4 and finally Ashley Young turn back years by making 5-0 Annan.

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We would get a rare home draw against St Johnstone in the Quarter Final which thought it would help. It didn't really help on the day we got a early lead through Scott Wright again but could not find a 2nd goal whatever. St Johnstone would hit a late equaliser which meant a replay. The replay would cause us a shock as rolled over St Johnstone to be 3-0 on the hour mark (Emanuelle Bardelloni (2) and Caolan Lavery) . St Johnstone would bring it back to 3-2 to leave us all on the edge our seats. .... but we held on semi final bound.

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The semi final brought us to East Fife who were absolute no match for us we rolled over them 2-0 goals from Stipe Perica and Scott Wright. East Fife didn't even get a shot on target....haha

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We were back at Hampden Park once again this time we were thrown the top boys in the scene Celtic. We had upset against Celtic before in the League Cup and causing the upset of the century by taking the title off them by a point last day. I knew they would want revenge...

This the line-up I chose to play...

Starting Line Up
4-5-1
13 Ederson
2 Ruben Aguilar
25 Aaron Muirhead
6 George Elokobi
3 Boli Bolingoli-Mbombo
19 Martin Samuelsen
14 Jack Leitch
4 James Jones
24 Scott Lochhead
34 Ashley Young
26 Stipe Perica
Subs
1 John Gibson
22 Michael Kelly
18 Abdi Noor
9 Caolan Lavery
5 Miguel Loucenco
21 Jack Barmby
20 Manuel Benson Hedilazio

The absent of Emanuelle Bardelloni hurt us and other big players with knocks on the bench. Celtic totally bossed us on the first half going 2-0 and we were unable to get shots away especially Stipe Perica. Even with the swap early in the second half Lavery for Perica we got minimal shots away and picked up a lucky goal off corner from George Elokobi. In all fairness the better team won.

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Awards

Player of The Season

Once again there was one clear winner for this award and this happens to now be his fourth time Emmanuele Bardelloni everybody haha

14/15 Kenny Mackay
15/16 Stuart Mccolm
16/17 Emmanuele Bardelloni
17/18 Emmanuele Bardelloni
18/19 Emmanuele Bardelloni
19/20 Emmanuele Bardelloni

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Team of the Season

The Team was as follows

Starting 11: Ederson, Ruben Aguilar, George Elokobi, Michael Kelly, Boli Bolingoli-Mbombo, Ross Davidson, Ambroise Begue, Martin Samuelsen, Jack Barmby, Emmanuel Bardelloni, Stipe Perica
Subs: John Gibson, Miguel Loucenco, Abdi Noor, Manuel Benson Hedilazio, Scott Lochhead, Aaron Muirhead and Scott Wright

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This was the new all-time team

Starting 11: Ederson, Ruben Aguilar, Micheal Kelly, Miguel Lourenco, Boli Bolingoli-Mbombo, Ambroise Begue, Josh Todd, Abdi Noor, Jack Barmby, Emmanuel Bardelloni, David Hopkirk
Subs: Pierre Antonie Martini, Steven Swinglehurst, Ross Davidson, Scott Wright, Scott Lochhead, Grant Gallagher and Kyle Dempsey

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Quite a lot changes this year Ederson goes straight into the team dropping Martini to the bench forcing Gibson out. Aguilar goes straight in with Symington dropping out. Lourenco moves up to the first team from Swinglehurst vice versa. This one confused me but Josh Todd returns somehow(wasn't even present in last two I don't know) to all time to replace Kyle Dempsey who drops to bench. The full first team swap Samuelsen replaces Linn. Other changes on the bench include the Gary Oliver, Aswad Thomas and Annan Legend Stuart McColm all leave the team. Ross Davidson and Scott Lochhead take the remaining places.

 

So I finally remember to do international tournament post at the right time. This year the Euros has a different approach it will hosted right across Europe rather than one location. In the words of UEFA President Michel Platini the tournament being hosted in several nations is a "romantic" one-off event to celebrate the 60th "birthday" of the European Championship competition. Well.... Welcome to Europe


Stadiums

So in real life the tournament stadiums have been announced and look like this
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but football manager had other ideas and picked a load of other stadiums haha here they are :
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Qualifers

The 24 teams included in this tournament were in order of Fifa Ranking:

England (2),Spain(3),Italy(4),Germany (7),Croatia(9),Belgium(13), Russia (14),Denmark(16),Portugal(17),France(23),Scotland(24),Wales(25),Republic of Ireland (26),Serbia(27), Switzerland(28), Romania(31), Holland(38), Sweden(39), Ukraine (40), Czech Republic(41),Hungary(47), Armenia(49), Israel (59), Bosnia (60).

Favourites: England or Spain (4 years on still favourites)
Underdogs: Croatia or Belgium (4 years on Croatia and Belgium are both stronger teams might take it)
Whipping Boys: Israel and Bosnia(Both ranked low lucky for an appearance)
Shock Non appearance: Poland and Turkey (looking over the ranking no wonder Bosnia are present despite being 60th. There seems to be a group of European teams tucked at the top then all Africa, Asia and Americas all making huge leaps then the rest of Europe 50+ onwards)


Groups

Group A: England, Scotland, Ukraine, Israel
Group B: Italy, Germany, Denmark, Czech Republic
Group C: Switzerland, Romania, Holland, Bosnia
Group D:Croatia, France, Serbia, Hungary
Group E:Belgium, Russia, Portugal, Republic of Ireland
Group F: Spain, Wales, Sweden, Armenia

Group Stage

Group A
England and Scotland that was a recipe for disaster but who came out on top? The shock was that i was Scotland taking the top with England finishing second
Qualification: Scotland and England
Group B
Goal difference would be only difference between Italy, Germany and Denmark in Group B but it would Germany and Denmark that went through
Qualification: Germany and Denmark
Group C
On paper Holland would go through in group easy but yet again they had a terrible tournament meaning Switzerland and Romania would go through.
Qualification: Switzerland and Romania
Group D
Group Favourites Croatia would absolute smash up Group D leaving France to pick up the scraps to claim 2nd
Qualification: Croatia and France
Group E
The group of the death caused some shocks when the Portugal and Republic of Ireland would eliminate the two group favourites Belgium and Russia
Qualification: Portugal and Republic of Ireland
Group F
One of the tournament favourites Spain would qualify easy and Sweden would pip Wales to get through
Qualification: Spain and Sweden

The top 4 of the third place teams would go through to make up the numbers that was Ukraine, Italy, Serbia and Belgium

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Knockout Stages

To cut to the chase here is the results of the knockout rounds
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Croatia were shocking eliminated in the Second Round, the rest carried on as normal. One of the favourites Spain were dumped out in the second round by Germany. The favourites England would meet Italy in the final on home ground. The game would be an intense fixture with Raheem Sterling slotting in a winner to win England there first ever European cup

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Final Thoughts

Winners: England - Were Favourites being the highest rank and had a tough start but came marvellously
Overachievers: Denmark - The semi-finalist could very nearly met England in the final
Overachievers: Italy- Did well to get to the final after their group stage
Underachievers: Holland- On a downwards spiral hope they can come back
Underachievers: Russia- Shock eliminated in the first round

Awards

This years Dream Team
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That combination up front though Cristano Ronaldo and Danny Welbeck haha Henderson in there again oh god haha Phil Jones even makes in this must of been poor euro cup like haha

Raheem Sterling wins the best player in the tournament and Danny Welbeck somehow won the golden boot with 5 goals

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The Year of the England.......
 
Annan Season 7 Pre-Season 2020/21

You will be glad because of great season last season we went up majorly in the club ranked in Scotland. We now rank 2nd in the Scotland and because we finished 1st in the league we would have chance to be Champions League which gave us a shed load of money to spend on new players. We came a long way from being the worst rated team in the top four leagues.

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Transfers

That time again who is in and who is out?

Out

I will start with the outs and this year it was like a slaughterhouse

Release

There was a lot of releases this year but I started with the senior team which saw Ashley Young, Steven Ruprecht, Lima Perriera, Gary Oliver and Javillio leave. Young had been a good shirt sales bringer but he was age was showing his perform we would retire at 35. Ruprecht was also showing his age and was unable to break into the team and that loan deal didn't really help his chances after his release he would return to German third league with Elversberg. Lima Perriera really just arrived at the club at the wrong time was unable to break into the team and this effected his perform we would join Boavista. Gary Oliver was a brilliant player in the championship with 12 goals in 30 games but premiership he was not the same player only managing 7 goals in 33 games. Javillio was a player I was happy to see the back of he just never really looked right at the club always injured never played well and was replaced by younger players. It looked to me that there was a curse on the No 7 shirt as every player so far that wore would not fair well...apart from Symington he played well but not Garban and Javillio.

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I don't what was going on at the youth academy but for some reason I had 61 players registered that was soon to change as I terminate 33 players contract and left the ones that I thought I could use. The players that got the chop were and where they went... Jamie Bowman (Southport Under 21s), Scott Murphy, Derek Campbell, Scott Wallace(Brora Rangers), Chris Gray, Jay Findlay(Stranraer), Ryan McLaughlin( Queen of the South),Gordon Paterson (Gala Fairydean Rovers), Willie McMillian (Ayr), Kevin Harvey (Dalbeattie Star), Martin Ross(East Stirlingshire), Kieran Naismith(Arbroath), Jamie Brown (Stirling),Andrew Maxwell, (Unattached),Ross Mackay, Andrew Black, Cammy Dillon, Marc Jackson, Scott Archibald, Steven Campbell, Andrew Muirhead, Shaw Harrop, David Bell, Neil Anderson, Grant Mckay, Craig Welsh, Chris Miller, Barry Ross, Gavin Murphy, George McDonald, Martyn Carter, Scott Horne, Lee Campbell(Retired)

Congratulations if you read all that haha gold star for you. Was just to show that my players were moving to League 1 and 2 clubs so i may meet them in the cups.

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Full Time

Due to our huge improve the ratings making us a top club in Scotland many players had interest from clubs. The First to leave was Scott Lochhead who had enjoyed three great seasons at the galabank but with big names coming in and sold him for 40K to Ross County making 10K profit on him. He would be there new vice captain.
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Second player to leave was Caolan Lavery who had only been the club for a year but that was wanted for a gap filled. So when Raith offered me 100K for 50k priced player I took it haha

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I learned a valuable lesson about watching the release clause when my 5M rated right winger Martin Samuelsen had release clause triggered for 1.6M by Huddersfield(Now Premier League). At least I still got a profit.

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Next to leave would Miguel Lourenco joining St Gallen of Switzerland when they offered 57K for him. He had peaked in his career and was on the way down.

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Tennai Watson would rejoin the League 2 after spending the season with Mansfield. Barnet came in with 1K deal to secure the right back.

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Nearing the end of the window out of nowhere Raith offered 300K for defensive mid Jack Leitch which I felt I just add to sign because the player was only just rated under 200K

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The full time deal was one that myself and fans didn't want to see happen. During the last season Emanuele Bardelloni expressed that he wanted to leave the club and in this window tempted flared and he announced he wanted to leave. I had proposed this for 2 seasons but I felt this time i had to let him go so a deal was agreed by Qatar's Side Al Jaish for 800K. Ladies and gentleman the king had left the building......
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Loans

Two players would join clubs on the first being Diego De Girolamo who would start his third season on loan at Raith. I just felt he wasn't quite there maybe next season. The second was Scott Wright who had a poor season last season only make 3 appearances but yet would come into my office and demand I play him upfront from now on. Obviously his approach didn't go well as I kicked his *** down to East Fife again. Don't cross me
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In

Full Time

The first deal that came was 27 year old French Left Back Rosario Latouchent from Raith Rovers. With Lavery, Leitch and De Girolamo all joining Raith in return they accepted a cheeky 100k for a player rated at 1.5M haha.

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I was then rob Verona for a 850K double deal of Richmond Boakye and Giuseppe Bellusci. 28 year old Richmond Boakye would make 550K of the deal he had played up front for the like Juventus, Genoa( Stupidly good in this save) and Verona. The 300K was for Bellusci who had been a rock at the back for Verona.

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I found my new No 7 and striker covered in Marco Sau. The 33 year old was high rated from playing upfront for Udinese and Cagliari. He arrived on a free deal.

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I signed Dutch centre Sandy Walsh on a free deal from Genk. The 26 year old had played for Anderlecht aswell.

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Deadline day seen me complete two deals Jonathan Rivierez and Abdul Osman. Rivierez was 31 year old French man who played in Ligue 1 all season. I signed Osman as a midfield cover the 34 year had experience in England and Scotland

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The Team

After all of the in and out the final team looked like this

GK: John Gibson, Ederson
RB: Ruben Aguilar, Jonathan Rivierez
LB: Boli Bolingoli -Mbombo, Rosario Latouchent
CB: Micheal Kelly, Aaron Muirhead, George Elokobi, Giuseppe Bellusci, Sandy Walsh
CM: Ambroise Begue, Ross Davidson, James Jones, Abdul Osman
RM: Abdi Noor,
LM: Manuel Benson Hedilazio,
ST: Stipe Perica, Richmond Boakye, Marco Sau

*Diego De Girolamo is on loan at Raith
*Scott Wright is on loan at East Fife

Strongest Line Up
( 4-5-1 ) with a AMR/L : Ederson, Aguilar, Elokobi, Bellusci, Boli Bolingoli Mbombo, Jones, Begue, Davidson, Noor, Benson Hedilazio, Boakye
Subs: Gibson, Latouchent, Kelly, Rivierez , Osman, Perica, Sau

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Youth Prospects

This year I had few players that I wanted to introduce into the first team a few times Jamie Sutherland, Jamie Boyle and Paul Shields

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Squad Numbers

1 John Gibson
2 Ruben Aguilar
3 Boli Bolingoli -Mbombo
4 James Jones
5 Giuseppe Bellusci
6 George Elokobi
7 Marco Sau
8 Ambroise Begue
9 Richmond Boakye
10 Scott Wright
11 Abdul Osman
12 Jonathan Rivierez
13 Ederson
14 Sandy Walsh
16 Ross Davidson
18 Abdi Noor
20 Manuel Benson Hedilazio
21 Jack Barmby
22 Michael Kelly
24 Scott Lochhead
25 Aaron Muirhead
26 Stipe Perica
27 Rosario Latouchent
40 Jamie Sutherland
45 Jamie Boyle
46 Paul Shields
51 Chris Forest
69 Jimmy MacGregor
82 Paul Wood
84 Alan Brown

Pre-Season

Tour

As the team was getting a better reputation for itself and a lot money came in this season I decided to take to the team on tour to Croatia. We would play fur games against GNK Dinamo, NK Zagreb, HNK Rjeka and NK Umag. The tour would start off slow with losing 5-2 then drawing 2-2 but would came back to win the last two games with Stipe Perica being the stand man.

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Other Games

The remaining three games would see us play Rio Ave, Juventus and Newcastle. Marco Sau would somehow helps get past Rio Ave. We held our own against Juventus and were unlucky against
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Annan Season 7 First Half 2020/2021

After our fairy tale finish last season its time to prove we are not one hit wonders and conquer Celtic again. We have a chance at Champions League football this season as we enter at the qualifying round.

Scottish League Cup
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I'll start with the easier trophy to write we start our journey in this cup against Queen's Park at Hampden Park. I did field a weaker team for this game even giving younger Jamie Sutherland a full game. Despite some the key players not playing we dominate only allowing Queens Park to have 1 shot. we cruised pass them with a 2-0 win courtesy of Stipe Perica and Richmond Boakye.

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The Quarter Final pitted us against some familiar faces at Raith but only Caolan Lavery would feature with De Girolamo unable to play and Jack Leitch watching from the stands with an injury. The game almost went Raith way when they took a 1-0 lead but Marco Sau would sent it to pens 1-1. Pens would go like this

Annan-Muirhead scores 1-0
Raith- Wood miss 1-0
Annan- Boakye scores 2-0
Raith- Lavery scores 2-1
Annan- Benson Hedilazio scores 3-1
Raith- Carrick scores 3-2
Annan- Noor scores 4-2
Raith- Vinciguerra scores 4-3
Annan- Sau misses 4-3
Raith- McHattie scores 4-4
Annan- Perica misses 4-4
Raith- Morris misses 4-4
Annan- Begue scores 5-4
Raith-Hay scores 5-5
Annan- Aguilar misses 5-5
Raith- Moffat misses 5-5
Annan- Davidson scores 6-5
Raith - McNeil scores 6-6
Annan- Latouchent scores 7-6
Raith- Abraham scores 7-7
Annan- Gibson scores 8-7
Raith- McGovern scores 8-8
Annan- Muirhead scores 9-8
Raith- Wood misses 9-8

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Scottish Cup
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We started off in the 4th Round of the Scottish Cup against Dundee and to be honest it didn't go the way we expected. Dundee took a early lead through Cammy Smith but in the second half we were able to pull it back and hold on for a replay. The replay was the complete opposite with my Verona Bellusci and Boakye getting the job done. Boakye was quietly establishing himself with 10 goals already. Dundee would get one back but a 2-1 win.

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Scottish Premiership
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It was anybody game at this stage Celtic were sitting pretty at the top with Dundee United and us breathing down there neck. St Mirren did have a look in but it looks unlikely. Who will it be Celtic, Dundee United, Annan or possibly St Mirren.

Champions League

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Qualifers

We would start our Champions League campaign in Qualifying Round 3 against Israeli Side Maccabi Haifa who are their league current champions.

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The first leg was a very even match both teams trying to figure each other out but we came away with a crucial 1-0 win at home thanks to Boli-Bolingoli.

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The second leg had everyone on the edge of there seats. Haifa took lead make 1-1 on aggregate. Richmond Boakye would quickly equal the scoring with a penalty 1-1(2-1 agg). The game would take a turn worst when Ederson scored an own goal and then Haifa's Tom Bain gave them a 3-1 lead meaning they were winning and going through. The final minute rolled by and got a free kick on the edge of the box. With every in the box out of nowhere at back up rises Giuseppe Bellusci to head us through to the next round

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Our playoff draw saw us play Olympiakos who were Greek Superliga winner 9 years straight so no pressure.

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The First leg started the same as the last round with Boli-Bolingoli gving us the lead but this time we would Olympiakos would hit an equaliser meaning it was 1-1. The shots difference showed the quality and accuracy of both teams

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Olympiakos carried on their torture in the second but it would be us taking the early lead through Richmond Boakye but with 9 minutes to go Olympiakos scoring taking to extra time which was uneventful. Despite having 38 shots Olympiakos totally messed up the penalty shootout losing 4-1. results looked like this

Annan - Boakye scores 1-0
Olympiakos- Schone misses 1-0
Annan - Muirhead scores 2-0
Olympiakos- Suarez scores 2-1
Annan - Sau scores 3-1
Olympiakos- Puel Misses 3-1
Annan- Begue scores 4-1

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Group Stages

I was drew into Group D which was a difficult group it was clear we were the extreme underdogs in this group. It consists of Billionaires AS Monaco who had recently overturn PSG for the French Title, Liverpool who had finally cemented themselves as top four team again with major spending and Sparta Prague who were the current Czech champions.

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We started off well and even got a win thanks to a late penalty against Sparta Prague. We would quickly be cut back down to size by AS Monaco and Liverpool brushing us aside easy. Luck would be on our side in second meeting with Monaco with them having missing we were able to get a late equaliser to steal a point. Sparta Prague would get revenge by beating us on the second meet 2-1. Our chances of qualifying for the knockouts were very slim but we still had chance at Europa League football if we could get 3rd position and results went our way. It was slight scare when Sparta Prague were winning but Monaco comeback sealed our place in the Europa.
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Last edited:
Hi guys,
Won't be posting for a couple days guys because I'm on holiday but this doesn't mean it is the end of the story I will post more when I'm back. In the mean time lets know what you think the story as I've broke 3,000 views I don't know you if are maybe one-off visitors or frequent readers let me know. Also I am decent way into save about 14 years (7-8 Years written on here) so the database has changed lots. If you want me to review any competitions, countries, players or maybe even your favourite team I'll be happy to let you know.
Davestan94
 
Annan Season 7 Second Half 2020/2021

The first half of the season left us with quite a rollercoaster seeing make through to the Semi Finals of the League Cup with massive penalty shootout, cruised through the Scottish Cup thanks to Boakye, eliminated from the champions league to then be pitted in Europa League and once again be put right in the middle of battle with Celtic and Dundee United. But Trophies are in sight and my warriors are ready.....


Transfers

In

There was two incoming deals in the January transfer window the first was 32 year old Striker Billy McKay who would become my new striker for reason to be explained. I signed the Northern Irish man on a 84K deal from Birmingham now a League 1 side. We would wear the No 19 shirt

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The second deal will be quite a surprise we had George Elokobi and Ashley Young but the signing would be OH NACER NACER CHADLI. The 31 year old Belgian left Spurs for relegated Southampton 2 years prior to then help become a prem side again to reward with a release ha rude. Anyways he signs on a free to become our new No 22.

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Out

The deal going out would was Stipe Perica who I wanted to keep as my No 2 Striker but with only 3 goals so far i sent him out to Dinamo Zagreb in his homeland to try relight the fire which lead to the Mckay signing. hopeful next year when Wright, Perica and De Girolamo come back and deliver the goods

Season

Scottish League Cup

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The Semi Final saw us once again travel to..... Hampden Park to face Rangers. We took the lead after 10 minutes through new signing Billy McKay only for Jordan White to score both sides of half time giving Rangers a 2-1 lead. Once again the big man at the back Giuseppe Bellusci would head in a equaliser to take it to extra time. The extra time would uneventful until the 118 minute where Luigi Falcone would give Rangers what looked to be a winner. This was not the case with the last touch of the ball the man opened to game kept it a live by taking it to pens. we ablosute rolled over them on pens winning 5-3 Jones, Sau, Mckay, Benson Hedilazio and Begue all looked unfazed

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Hampden Park would be our final venue against our enemy Celtic once again. Unforunatly my team was absolutely riddled with injurys meaning I was missing Boakye, Begue, Davidson, Boli-Bolingoli Mbombo, Elokobi and Latouchment **** to make it worst i had to start Benson Hedilazio on the bench with a slight injury. This was the starting lineup:

4-5-1 (Flat five)
Starting Line up
13 Ederson
25 Aaron Muirhead
5 Giuseppe Bellusci
14 Sandy Walsh
48 Jamie Robson (Debut)
46 Paul Shields (Debut)
4 James Jones
2 Ruben Aguilar
47 Kevin Scott (Debut)
22 Nacer Chadli
45 Jamie Boyle (Debut)
Subs
1 John Gibson
40 Jamie Sutherland
20 Manuel Benson Hedilazio
10 Scott Wright
41 Andrew Donelly (Debut)
15 Micheal Kelly

As you can see not the best line-up and to be honest i was expecting a runners up medal :( I took my place on the bench and watched the 15 minutes of play Celtic pressing on hard at this point we had only one shot from 50 yards. We got a luck corner it put in James Jones right onto the head of 18 year old Kevin Scott who gives us a shocking 1-0 lead. The reaction is of surely disbelief I jump knocking my tea everywhere celebrating. After game was just pure defence as we held back Celtic barrage of shots and injury to Giuseppe Bellusci didn't help but brought on Manuel Benson Hedilazio. Then 10 minutes from the end the unthinkable happens another youngest Matty Robson produces a peach of throwing to Manuel Benson Hedilazio who catches it on a volley to give a 2-0 win and gifting us another cup win. Who says you cant win anything with kids.


Europa League

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We would enter the Europa League at the Knockout Stage where drew Belgian Championship Anderlecht who had the same path into the tournament as us fair game.
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Fair game it was not Anderlecht leading early in the first half only for Billy Mckay to 5 minutes of madness scoring 2 to give us a first leg win Boom.
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The second leg was a very boring we just sat back and defend to the 48 minute when Boli Bolingoli would score and we defended again 1-0 win 3-1 agg.
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The next round would see us play Sampdoria who are back to back runners up in Serie A to Juventus. Some very notable lining for them as Andre Iniesta, Javier Mascherano and Vito Mannone.
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The First leg entered a bore draw with no team really looking like a getting a winner too much to lose. literally the highlights we two kickoffs, one shot and a tackle from Iniesta.
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The second leg was much the same but with one difference a huge mistake by Billy McKay in 70 minute would end our tournament when his clearance off the line would smash against Ederson flying back into our own goal.
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Scottish Premiership

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After last years success we were determine to not be a one hit wonder and it took us to the last day to do it again beating Celtic by 1 point. The last few games in the Champions group were the game changer if they weren't play Celtic would be champions but that makes us back to back champions yesh...

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Scottish Cup

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We re-join this completion at the 5th Round stage where we play Falkirk and fielded a weaker team thinking this was easy game not the case. Falkirk had answer for everything we through even going 3-2 at one point we were saved by a late Abdul Osman goal.
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Another Replay...... We battered Falkirk in the return fixture but it took 2 extra time goals from Richmond Boakye to cement it
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Motherwell would be our Quarter Final opponents and the game would have really three talking points the early goal from Motherwell for them to then disappear. Boakye and Mckay would grab one each before the 30 minute mark. Before Motherwell would turn up to send it to a Replay.
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The Replay would play out exactly the same as the first except Boakye grabbed both goals. The game ended up going to penalties which win eased over with 5-4 win with Boakye, Begue, Sau, Kelly and Elokobi all scoring.
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This completion seems to have pattern here as our semi final with Hearts ended in yet another draw. Richmond Boakye showed that he was determined to fill Emanuelle Bardelloni when he converted he 24th goal early but Hearts would equal it up later. The game did get quite nasty times tackles flying in and extra time Calum Paterson was gave marching order for Hearts and we also went into the pens with 10 men due a James Jones injury. This round there was no replays straight to the pens

Annan - Richmond Boakye scores 1-0
Hearts- Paulo Hernan Hinostroza scores 1-1
Annan - Abdi Noor scores 2-1
Hearts- Jamie Walker scores 2-2
Annan - Ambroise Begue scores 3-2
Hearts- Gary Riley scores 3-3
Annan - Manuel Benson Hedilazio scores 4-3
Hearts- Miguel Pallardo scores 4-4
Annan - Micheal Kelly scores 5-4
Hearts- Mark Connelly scores 5-5
Annan - Ross Davidson scores 6-5
Hearts- Vojno Jesic scores 6-6
Annan - Ruben Aguilar scores 7-6
Hearts- Ivan Djordjevic scores 7-7
Annan - Giuseppe Bellusci scores 8-7
Hearts- Declan Johns scores 8-8
Annan - Rosario Latouchent scores 9-8
Hearts- James MacDonald scores 9-9
Annan- Ederson scores 10-9
Hearts- Soufan El Hassnaoui scores 10-10
Annan- Richmond Boakye scores 11-10
Hearts- Paulo Hernan Hinostroza scores 11-11
Annan - Abdi Noor scores 12-11
Hearts- Jamie Walker scores 12-12
Annan - Ambroise Begue scores 13-12
Hearts- Gary Riley scores 13-13
Annan - Manuel Benson Hedilazio scores 14-13
Hearts- Miguel Pallardo scores 14-14
Annan - Micheal Kelly scores 15-14
Hearts- Mark Connelly shot is saved 15-14

It took 30 penalty would were there in the final once again haha

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Hampden Park was becoming abit like a second home to us as this time we met Inverness in the final and should be a easy game for us. Inverness were in the relegation scrap this year and it showed as we were able to run circles round with simple plays Manuel Benson Hedilazio and Ambroise Begue would to give a comfortable tow goal cushion to sit on. Inverness would hit back but we were too comfortable

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Awards

Player of The Season

For the first time in four years we have a new Player of the season Richmond Boakye who in his first season with Annan beat Emmanuel Bardelloni record of 26 goals in a season with a cool 29 well deserved. What a partnership it could of been but they did play two games together but its not enough.

14/15 Kenny Mackay
15/16 Stuart Mccolm
16/17 Emmanuele Bardelloni
17/18 Emmanuele Bardelloni
18/19 Emmanuele Bardelloni
19/20 Emmanuele Bardelloni
20-21 Richmond Boakye

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Team of Season

The team of the season raised a few eyebrows as it stayed as 4-4-2 rather than the 5-4-1 and 4-5-1 I'd played more commonly.

Starting 11: Ederson, Aguilar, Bellusci, Kelly, Bolingoli-Mbombo, Begue, Jones, Noor, Benson Hedilazio, Boakye, Perica
Subs: Gibson, Elokobi, Davidson, Barmby, McKay, Muirhead and Sau

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Was very surprising that Perica made the first squad and the likes of Elokobi and Davidson were on the bench

All time:

Starting 11: Ederson, Aguilar, Swinglehurst, Kelly, Bolingoli-Mbombo, Begue, Davidson, Noor, Barmby, Bardelloni, Hopkirk
Subs: Martini, Loucenco, Todd, Wright, Lochhead, Muirhead and Benson Hedilazio

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Steven Swinglehust and Miguel Loucenco switched places even though neither weren't at the club dunno! Davidson and Todd also switch places. On the bench Murihead and Benson Hedilazio replace Dempsey and Gallagher. No place for new boy Boakye tho!

I was considering leaving Annan after this season and move on but two bombs were dropped that made me stay. Firstly we were ranked 2nd by Celtic even we had surpassed them two seasons in row. But the really game changer was that board announced a new 19,000 Stadium to be built and I'm to do all this work not to see.

The Concept of what the new stadium may look like even though this may be Botev Plovdiv's

 
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Annan Season 8 Pre-Season 2021-2022

I'm Back haha I continued into my 8th Season at Annan currently standing as the reigning Champions, Scottish and Scottish League holders. Now that I'm staying to see the new stadium i want to achieve two things before I leave. I had improved Annan hugely both Reputation and Financial. I wanted to finally take that top spot off Celtic and tp make us a more dominate focus in Europe. Lets do this.....


Also I forgot to mention at the end of last season The Tank of George Elokobi announced he would hang up his boots and look into management Cheers George.

Transfers

Out

Releases

The transfer period didn't start off well as Scott Wright immediate arrived back and there was trouble he was unhappy and decided to renew his contract he left to join Livingston on a free transfer. This saga ended quite badly for player who touted to be huge in the league. The second player to leave was Abdul Osman who was really just a another gap filler and was a big loss to club. The final player leave on a free was John Gibson who had played a vital part in securing our place in the Premiership. The past few years seen him dropped to bench but still played a big part in tutoring the players. He joined Hamilton on free All the best Big John haha

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Permanent

Early into the window I was give a offer and left me thinking should I or shouldn't I. Dinamo Zagreb had took Stipe Perica on loan last season and they obvious liked him because they bounced in with an offer of 150K which was later pushed up to 155K to take him. I decided to cut my losses and let him leave because i couldn't see any consistency in him. The next to leave was Sandy Walsh who had a quick pass through only getting 7 appearances before leaving for Kilmarnock for 65K. The final permanent deal was Marco Sau leaving Krasnodar for 120K. He was obviously a good player in his time but he had peaked and was unable to break the No 7 Curse.

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Loan

Another loan deal for Kevin Scott heading to East Stirlingshire instead of Brora Rangers. The other deal saw Jamie Sutherland join Morton on loan. Sutherland was the player i was banking on to be big but he was 1 or 2 season away watch out for him.

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In

The first deal that was made final was Serbian 30 year old Marko Scepovic on a free transfer from Olympiakos. He actually played against us for them last year and very nearly dumped us out I think he'll do well.

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Next secured a huge 910K double deal from St Mirren for Mark Durnan and Zander Clark. 725K for Mark Durnan who I signed to meet the homegrown requirements but a good fit for my defense. Zander Clark the 185K part of the deal just a expensive 2nd keeper buy as no other would sign.

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We signed 26 year old Polish Winger Mariusz Stepinski on free from Standard Liege. The player also doubles up as striker that can get goals and looks like he can be a good No 10.

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The next signing Aaron Doran was no stranger to the top division after in both England and Scotland for Blackburn, Inverness and Dundee United. For 245K deal seemed quite good for a experience midfielder.

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The Final deal was a big one I handed out 1 Million exactly for Congolese Tristian Muyumba Nkita from Anderlecht. He played against before in the Europa League but he was going be the anchor in the midfielder and the one to break the No 7 curse.

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The Final Squad

GK: Ederson, Zander Clark
RB: Ruben Aguilar, Jonathan Rivierez
LB: Boli Bolingoli -Mbombo, Rosario Latouchent
CB: Micheal Kelly, Aaron Muirhead, Giuseppe Bellusci, Mark Durnan
CM: Ambroise Begue, Ross Davidson, James Jones, Tristian Muyumba Nkita, Aaron Doran
RM: Abdi Noor, Mariusz Stepinski
LM: Manuel Benson Hedilazio, Nacer Chadli
ST: Richmond Boakye, Diego De Girolamo, Marko Scepovic, Billy McKay

Squad Numbers

1 Zander Clark
2 Ruben Aguilar
3 Boli Bolingoli -Mbombo
4 James Jones
5 Giuseppe Bellusci
6 Mark Durnan
7 Tristian Muyumba Nkita
8 Ambroise Begue
9 Richmond Boakye
10 Mariusz Stepinski
11 Aaron Doran
12 Jonathan Rivierez
13 Ederson
15 Michael Kelly
16 Ross Davidson
18 Abdi Noor
19 Billy McKay
20 Manuel Benson Hedilazio
21 Nacer Chadli
25 Aaron Muirhead
27 Rosario Latouchent
44 Marko Scepovic
45 Diego De Girolamo

Tour

This year we would take our tour of 4 games to Japan to play Kyoto Mantis, Mazda SC, Osaka AC and Riseisha FC. The first two games made the tour look like it shouldn't happened as we were awful resulting in 2 0-0 draws. The third game would end in 4-4 draw after we came from 3-0 down to be 4-3 up before a late goal. The final game was best by us by far winning 5-0. Boakye, Noor and Benson Hedilazio were the standout guys.

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Friendies

We played 3 friendlies against Belgian sides Tubize, Antwerp and Italian side Livorno. These friendies didn't end well ending with a 0-0 draw then 2-1 and 3-1 losses.

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Hopeful the regular season will be better than Pre-Season.
 
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