Widge is Wandering Again

[Widge]

July 2020 - January 2021

It's been over 6 years since I had an FM game (I believe 2014 was the last) and even longer since I had my own career thread as well, but here we are, some things never change, so we'll see how long I can keep this up and yes I'm aware that I hadn't downloaded badges/skins yet!

Starting where it usually does, my own team, St Johnstone. I decided to stick to this seasons tactics (I'll show below) to see how poorly we're performing in real life. 

Summer Transfers Out

Out go some of the customary youngsters. Also sent Hendry and Rooney out on loan to get some wages. Hendry wanted to be starting and frankly needs the game time, whilst Rooney is probably never going to play for us again, he's just not good enough at this level. In fact he performs poorly at League 1 level! 

Summer Transfers In

Not much money to sign anyone at all, so it was cheap youngsters on loan. Mengi actually became my best defender quite quickly and at 18 has a very, very bright future ahead of him in the game. Early doors I'd already tried to become his best mate so he'd come back the following season. Gwargis and Lyons-Foster are both cheap back ups, but given the lack of depth in the squad, will most certainly get plenty of game time. 

Tactics/Formation

As I've tried to stay as close to this season as possible I've adopted the 5-2-3 formation for the most part. Playing out from the back and building play, but once we lose the ball engage the opposition high up the pitch and put pressure on with high intensity, etc. The team is encouraged to be creative and take risks, also looking to counter quickly once we win the ball back. Is it perfect, nope far from it, do I think I'll continue with the formation in the long run, probably not, but for now it seems to suit some of my better players and I'm intrigued to see just how well we can do with it this season. 

If you want to know more about the formation let me know, happy to show anything that anyone wants to be honest.

Scottish League Cup 

Pretty plain sailing up until the knock-out stages where Arbroath gave us a really good game. 

Lost in the end to Rangers in Extra Time after holding onto the lead until the 81st minute. Unfortunately stamina and condition of the players let us down as we'd played with such a high intensity for the majority of the match. Annoying to lose it in ET, but we gave them a really good game and could hold our heads high. It also meant that we achieved the objective the board had set, by making the quarter finals.

Scottish Cup

Making good progress in the Scottish cup. Again the expectation is to reach the quarter finals and only a game against Kilmarnock prevents us from doing so. 

Scottish Premier League

As I've played on a little, the next update will be the January window and a little past this, so I'll post a bigger update on the league in the next update. However, we're currently sitting in 5th place with our biggest win a 3-0 victory over a good Hamilton team. Our biggest lose was a 5-0 drubbing from Rangers, which was 5 going on 20 to be honest. 

If anyone has any questions or recommendations then please feel free. It's been a while since I had the time to do one of these and it might take me a little time to get back into the swing of it all. Hopefully there's enough interest in it to keep me going, the plan isn't to stay at St Johnstone forever, give it a few seasons and see where we're at, but if bigger or more interesting jobs appear then I'll jump ship. I never finished the Pentagon challenge from the last time I played, so maybe I'll try that. Or simply try and conquer the world like my last thread and take suggestions for leagues to load up and try ad conquer. 

 

 

[Widge]

January 2021 - Pre-Split 2021

Thought I'd keep it easy and do an update with the January transfer window and then the post split league update (I'm not going to post all the games). I dunno how I'm going to do it going forward, but I suspect it'll be 3/4 posts for a season, the first with the transfers and any news, then the results to January, then a pre-split update and a final end to the season one. 

Either way our form has gone right out the window, turns out selling Jason Kerr, whilst financially correct and morally correct for him has hindered our defence massively. What hasn't helped is the sheer amount of injuries I've had to contend with. Top scorer Stevie May was out for 2 months, Davidson and Wotherspoon are out for the season, Tanser and Bryson have picked up injuries for 6-8 weeks. Plus Craig Conway has to go down as the single most injury prone player ever, he's never fit!

What this meant was Callum Hendry coming back from his loan early, but yeah you guessed it after a few weeks he got injured and was out for the season. What this meant was a small foray into the January transfer market, mostly through necessity in selling Kerr.

Transfers Out

As mentioned earlier, captain and best defender (debatable) Jason Kerr was made aware of interest from Arsenal in January and asked me to sell him. Annoyingly I didn't get nearly as much as he was probably worth, however instead of having an unhappy player at the club I reluctantly sold my captain. On the plus side we get 20% of the profit from his next sale and his value has increased significantly already as he's been loaned straight to a mid table Ligue 1 team. So hopefully in a few years we make some more cash, but he'll always be welcome back at McDiarmid Park thats for sure.

Not shown in the picture is that both Callum Booth and Chris Kane left after their short term contracts ended. No great loss, Kane was shite and Booth wanted a long term deal I wasn't wiling to give him, left me a little short of cover, but Lyon-Foster can step in at leftback if needs must, or I can change my shape. 

Transfers In

Harvey White is a youngster from Spurs who I brought in as Bryson and Davidson were injured. He's a cracking little player, if a little lightweight and inconsistent. He's been really useful since I moved to a 3 man midfield and lost my main attacking threat in Wotherspoon to injury. 

Second in the door was McLennan. I'm not sure I expect that much from him, but for £80k it's one I can try and make a difference to. He's essentially my long term replacement for Michael O'Halloran in the run in a straight line very fast department. Do I think he'll ever get to the 4 star potential he has, nope. Do I think he'll be a handy sub at the very least, yup. Plus he's a young Scottish player who'd pretty versatile which is good. Might try and retrain him as a wing back simply due to his pace. 

Lastly was McCarthy from St Mirren. With Kerr leaving I needed another centreback and was running out of time. He's still young, great potential and solid stats. As it stands he's probably 4th choice right now; however if I go to a back 3 again, or he improved as I'm hoping he will this could be a bit of a steal. He's got to become better than Liam Gordon in the short term and Mengis is away back to Man United in the summer, so if he improves the position could be his. 

Scottish Cup 

Well that didn't go well. Dominated them, missed a penalty, had an xG of 3.2 and lost a last minute goal in extra time with their only attack of the game. 

Scottish Premiership

How's that for a run of form since January. Maybe selling my captain wasn't the best idea.....

Leaves the table like this before the split. Nope I don't get Motherwell's position either!!

[RandomGuy.]

Battle for that final European spot should be fun!

[PB1994]

Finishing 5th in the Premiership must be a right pain in the arse now. Qualifying for Europe but still playing in the League Cup Group Stages.

[Widge]

Post Split 2021

So heading into the last 5 games of the season and we were on the verge of qualifying for Europe. Truth be told, Hibs were a better team than us and Aberdeen at one stage had been 12 points behind us and had really turned it round. Interesting to note that McInnes was actually sacked after 25 games and replaced by the one and only Scottish dinosaur, Gordon Strachan. Whatever he was doing obviously worked, from what I can tell it was shell high balls to Edmundson and Cosgrove and hope for the best.

So how did we get on, given we were on a current 9 game winless streak with Stevie May not having scored in 12 games....

Ok, I've seen worse, picked up some form at exactly the right time, with Stevie May finding his shooting boots at precisely the right moment! We were helped by the fact that Rangers had already won the league and played their reserves and Motherwell did the same as they were in the Scottish cup final (which they actually won, beating Rangers). I think they were helped massively by having Callum Lang, who's apparently worth 5 million!!

So how did that leave the table....

OFFFT

Well hello there annual Hibs bottle job!! They picked up a solitary point in the split games and that saw them miss out on European football all together. Whist I'm delighted with where we came, I've achieved it with a minus goal difference and the same number of wins as losses. Rangers are too good this season, Celtic weren't far behind and Motherwell were unreal for the most part. 

There's still a massive gap to close, but hopefully we can make some headway. Albeit I managed to almost cripple squad morale by saying we were aiming for the top half again next season, apparently that we unrealistic! Aye alright then lads, relegation battle it is, I think not.

At the other end, bye bye United, they were terrible yet we had an aggregate score of 1-0 against them over the 3 games, sounds like this season! Did have a look through their squad to see if there's anyone I'd want, but I can't afford Shankland and other than Neilson who they wont sell there's nobody worth it.

Livingston beat Dunfermline in the play offs annoyingly as they beat me twice last year and Hearts bounce straight back up to the top flight, but have lost some of their better players. 

Pre-Arranged Transfers

Danny McNamara joins us permanently. Whilst he hasn't been amazing he's still racked up a few assists and has plenty of room to improve. He established himself back as first choice wing back in the latter half of the season and was solid for the most part. The deal made sense as it was reasonably cheap and costs us nothing. We were looking at losing quite a few players in the summer, so it made sense to keep at least one around!

Luke McCowan joins from Ayr. I'd noted interest a while ago and he handed a transfer request in. As a result Mark Kerr has barely used him which worries be in terms of sharpness and development; however he's basically coming in as cheap back up for a number of positions. £600/week is pennies and half of what I'm paying the permacrock Conway so hopefully McCowan can provide a useful option. It might also allow me to send McLennann out on load which would probably help his development greatly. 

In terms of other contracts offered, I tried to get Doyle-Hayes from St Mirren, but a glitch in the game would have had me pay £600k compensation which was too much. I've also tried desperately to convince Stuart Findlay to join us, as yet I've been unsuccessful, but I'm hoping once he's sat without a club and the potential for European football, his mind might be swayed.

[Widge]

Summer Transfer Window & European Qualification 2021

So we head into the new season with a squad that has lost a lot of aging, high wage players (more on that below) and a number of loaned youngsters, meaning it would probably be quite an eventful transfer window. Added to this I was handed a rather large transfer budget of £3 million. Whilst I know why I got this (we've got 4.5 million in the bank) there wasn't a chance I was spending it all and would instead look for bargains and youth prospects to improve us now and in the future. 

We have a number of decent youngsters still in the under 21's and also have several outstanding talents from the recent youth intake, including a striker with 5 star potential (1.5 currently at 16) who's gone out on loan and score in each of his first 4 games at League 1 level. 

Also as predicted, I've moved away from 3 at the back due to the lack of quality centrebacks willing to join us, so I'm moving to the tried and tested 4-3-2-1 (wide).

As I'd posted above I'd already agreed deals for McNamara and McCowan to come in and provide competition and depth. Other notable players I tried without success to sign on PCA's for a number of reasons -

• Scott Fraser (Wanted too much)
• Stuart Findlay (No interest in joining, went to Motherwell for £1.5k/week)
• Jake Doyle-Hayes (Signed new St Mirren contract)

Which meant that I had to adapt my transfer strategy somewhat. As you'll see from the below I was focussed on bringing in home grown talent. With Brexit hitting and Saints being a particularly hard sell to foreigners I felt Scottish was the way forward and sought to find good youngsters with plenty of room for growth. What you wont see, I also had a bid of £500 for Harry Cochrane accepted, but he rejected me to get first team football. I was hoping I'd be able to turn his thus far failing career around. I should also say that I was able to offer wages up to £4.5k/week, but for me that was totally unrealistic and I wasn't willing to do that as saints boss, therefore I limited myself to a maximum of 2.5k/week. Not that anyone's on that yet.

Transfers Out

All youngsters out on loan. 

Leaving the club were the following -

• Craig "permacrock" Conway
• Craig "I want to play" Bryson
• Guy "Why am I here" Melamed

So yeah there was £4k/week on wages I'm saving and also by virtue of the first two leaving the average squad age will plummet. Melamed was a weird one, he's fairly versatile and I had the option of an extra year, but for the cost and output it just wasn't for me. 

Transfers In

McNamara and McCowan I've spoken about.

Liam Smith - Needed competition for McNamara and decided to raid Dundee United since their relegation for the fullback. A cheap deal and he's not on massive wages as well, with plenty of room to improve I'm sure he'll provide an excellent acquisition. 

Tenden Mengi - He's back!! My best player and thank god he's back, all I've got to say. I can't afford him (he's worth 15mil), but for as long as I can loan and afford his wages, he's got a best pal in me. 

Dan N'Lundulu - Stevie May's back up. Cheap cover from Southampton who looks a great player. With May starting the season injured he's got the chance to claim the main role for himself if he plays well. 

Josh Reid - Needed competition for Tanser who's inconsistent at best. Reid is 19 and full of potential. £170k upfront with performance related bonuses. Also Ross County fans were fuming to see him go, so happy days with that. I'd imagine he'll overtake Tanser as first choice pretty quickly this season.

Stephen Kelly - Moving to a 3 man midfield I needed some depth, performed well for County last season and isn't breaking the bank, nor am I expected to start him. Good for cover.

Kyle Magennis - My big purchase. He's cost a lost upfront (£400k), but he's an excellent player already who can still improve. Given the types of player I was after (An advanced playmaker) he fits the bill. I'd tried for Lewis McLeod and Scott Fraser before him, but both wanted massive wages. Kyle was willing to accept £2k/week and I'm delighted to get him in. Given Alan Campbell is now worth 4.5mil, I'd expect his value to rocket with some good performances. Put it this way, he ran the midfield and set 2 goals up on his debut despite getting a knock, criminally underused by Hibs. 

Jamie Murphy - Wanted an out and out left winger. Saw he was up for loan and given every time I played Hibs he tore us a new one, delighted to have him on my side now!!

So I think that makes my transfer strategy clear, either be Scottish with potential or be a cheap back up from down south!

European Competitions

Well it's over before it even began, but I can't say I'm too upset, we don't have the squad to cope, albeit you'll see from the below clip that the second leg in Bratislava was heart stopping stuff. Concede late, score later and then they miss a last minute penalty!

Seems we like a certain score!!

I'll post an update through to January when I get a chance to play through it, including league, league cup and European games. In the meantime, if there's anything you want to know, please just ask away.

[Widge]

August 2021 - October 2021

So knocked out the European campaign early on, as I said before, I'm not massively upset as we don't have the squad depth to compete properly. One thing I have noticed about my squad is how I've began to phase the older players out by accident and unintentionally. For example I was still playing Liam Craig and Murray Davidson a lot last year; however this season they've been replaced by Magennis and Kelly. Thankfully Wotherspoon is the opposite, I've finally found a formation where I can play him and he's not actually injured. Jury is out for me on Stevie May currently, he was injured early doors for a prolonged period, but as of yet he's not found his shooting boots. Thankfully his goals have been replaced by those of Dan N'Lundulu who's been absolutely outstanding and adds some much needed aerial presence to our attacking line up. The kids contract at Southampton runs out this year and I'm already pondering if he's worth the wage he's likely to demand, then again even down there he's on £1k/week, hence the only reason he's on loan. Not bad for a panic signing designed to be back up to May at best!!

League Cup 

And there's the issue with this country in a nutshell. Beat Aberdeen which was excellent given they're much improved this year and then go and get thrashed away by Rangers second string for the most part. Annoyingly they're simply too good again and I cannot lay a glove on them. We've got a long way to go to make inroads into this, made harder by the fact that between Celtic and them, they they made about £120million in transfer fees during the summer, a large proportion of which went out the door. I mean give a starving man a meal and he'll eat, give Rangers cash and they'll spend I guess.

Scottish Premiership

Going pretty well if I say so myself. Once again Rangers absolutely obliterated us, as is becoming the annual fashion. Yes N'Lundulu hit back to back hattricks in 2 games, both of which were perfect hattricks. The kid is very, very good already. Other than the loses, fairly plain sailing, a couple of disappointing draws and the lose to Motherwell was a last minute winner from 25 yards. Turns out Motherwell are still a very good team this year and it's probably the one game (Rangers apart) where we've been comprehensively played off the park and if we'd nicked a point from it I'd have been delighted. 

Star performers so far this season other than the big man up top. Mengi has picked up where he left off, he's been excellent as always. Zander Clark is now Scotland's first choice keeper (aye right FM, good one!!) and Ali McCann is much improved on last year in a new role. Magennis got injured and hasn't contributed as much as I'd like, but Wotherspoon is covering him nicely. Of all the players Jamie Murphy has been a disappointment, he's been rubbish. He's had enough game time to show something and simply hasn't. I'm contemplating cancelling the loan and putting the wages elsewhere to be honest. If I can find a cheap replacement, or McLennan finds form after his injury I might do so. McCowan started slowly but is coming onto a game now. 

As for the league table...

Think there's an extra game been played that's not in the results, a 1-1 draw with Killie at the start of November.

Going well I'd say, we're keeping up with our main top 6 rivals, Motherwell and Aberdeen. Hibs have been poor so far, but I suspect they'll turn it around and Kilmarnock are much improved with Derek Adams at the helm. I'm confident about getting top 6, but whether we can improve on last seasons 4th I doubt. I think injuries will take their tole eventually, but fingers crossed we keep putting the smaller teams away and finding ways to beat the big guys. The 3-1 against Aberdeen shows we can do it and do it well, we blitzed them from the off an never looked back after losing a first minute goal. The biggest positive so far for me this season is the goal difference, 4 clean sheets in 11 games isn't too bad, but we're scoring more this season and look pretty devastating on the break. Long may it continue.

[Widge]

November 2021 - December 2021

So we keep progressing in the league and the league only. I can't quite put my finger on this team, as is often the case when my teams are a success, but we're just doing everything right when it matters. Yes there's the odd poor result and the occasional thumping from Rangers thrown in, honestly my record against them is truly terrible, but then we produce results like this.

Totally battered them and for once xG was actually spot on. If anything it should have been more, we missed a penalty at 3-2 and almost conceded a comical own goal 2 minutes after. I don't know if it's the change in shape, or the change in personnel, but it's working. I think moving to a younger, fitter, faster team has played a big part. Removing the likes of Davidson, Conway, Craig, etc. from the starting squad has helped massively. As a result of the good results, the players are also improving stats wise and value wise, in fact last season we had some really poor training months, but this season McNamara, McCann and McCowan average an 8.5 at least, when last year they were some of the poorer trainers.

As for the results here they are...

Not perfect by any means, 3 draws and two poor losses. Don't know what happened against Hamilton but we were rotten. Dan N'Lundulu went off the boil a little in the middle of the month, thankfully the Stevie May of last season returned and grabbed a couple of goals. As have the midfield 3, scoring a couple each. One of the main positives in the last 2 months is the form of Luke McCowan. Originally my coaches had him as a 2 star winger at best and my 4th choice. However he's now a 3 star winger and comfortably first choice on that side, firmly displacing O'Halloran. On the other side, Murphy has been firmly replaced by McClennan as well who's pace is a great outlet. I'm still unsure on what to do on that side, I'll keep Murphy around I think as backup (expensive as he is) but he's got a job on his hands to get back in the team. 

It leaves the table looking like this...

Nope, me neither. Rangers are far too good in this league, Celtic's recruitment was awful and it's showing. Kilmarnock the main surprises, other than us I guess. Whilst we've got a little lead over some of the other teams, our form will fall off and I think 3-6th will be pretty close come the end of the season. At the other end, Hibs failings are massive and St Mirren are absolutely woeful and if they had any decent youngsters I'd try and sign them (Doyle-Hayes, I'm looking at you!)

In squad news, Murray Davidson wants to leave to get regular football in the last days of his career, he didn't want to accept a coaching role unfortunately. No loss on the playing side, but in terms of experience a big one. Liam Gordon also came to me rather bizarrely to say he didn't feel like he could play at the level we were at and aiming for any more and despite me telling him otherwise (given he rotates with McCart in defence) he wants to move to a club of lesser ability I guess. So I'm currently trying to find the pair of them new clubs so that squad morale doesn't fall as a result. The good news is, I've already sourced their replacements who will be arriving in January. I'll do a separate January post I reckon, but I'm happy with them both. One I've paid cash for, to bring him back to the league and the other I had on trial for 4 weeks before bringing him in. He's a better defender than both McCart and Gordon according to my coaches so that's a positive and as he'd been without a club for 6 months his wages were reasonable. 

[Widge]

January Transfer Window 2022

As previously mentioned, I wasn't looking to do any major surgery to my squad or team in this window. More line up some replacements for aging players who were looking to leave, as well as try and future proof for next season a little.

On that note, I've extended the contracts of all my key youngsters and better players. Clark and McCann both signed new 4 year deals and there were some new contracts for Liam Craig (player/coach) and Jamie McCart as well, who's been excellent. 

Transfers Out

Hendry isn't playing and to be totally honest, why he got a new deal I'll never know. He's my 3rd choice striker but he's not progressed, is on a largish wage and never performs. He'll be one I look to ship out in the summer for sure, he's never making an impact at us. Plus I've got a young 16 year old kid out on loan at Edinburgh City who's scoring nicely and is already rated at 2 stars with 5 star potential. 

The rest were sent out to affiliated club Waterford. They weren't getting game time and if all goes well they improve, get game time and can come back and stay as reserves next season and 3rd, 5th and 4th choice in their positions respectively. 

Liam Gordon as mentioned doesn't feel he's good enough to play for saints any more for some reason, so off he went to Livingston. It's annoying since I gave him a new improved deal last season to ward of interest from Hibs and he was actually playing and doing alright. However he's now decided he cant hack it for us, so has moved to a team literally 4 places below. He's another who'll probably be getting sent packing in the summer.

I failed to get rid of Davidson and he failed himself so he's staying and wants off the transfer list as well!

Transfers In

Kean Bryan is my Gordon replacement and he looks good already. 25 years old, good stats, played at a high level and wasn't looking for extortionate wages unlike a lot of the trialists I took on. He's my second best centre back right now and will be competing with McCart for the left hand side spot given he's a leftie too. Happy to have him and he's better than Gordon for sure, plus he signed a 3 year deal so we should have him for his prime years. Means I don't need to replace 2 centre backs in the summer, just Mengi if I can't get him back for a third year.

Lewis Strapp comes in as cheap back up and competition for Tanser. He's on peanuts and my plan was to get Josh Reid out on loan to try and develop him, but that hasn't worked. Long term Reid is going to be my first choice, but at 19 he's not there yet! Strapp is a solid option, as I said cheap and more importantly Scottish, as I'm still trying to keep the majority of my squad nationals. 

Jamie Lindsay was my big purchase and one I actually agreed in November when I knew Davidson wanted away. Small price to pay to get him in 6 months early, but worth it I'd say. I've now got 3 box to box players at a good level, Lindsay and McCann as the first choices and Stephen Kelly is a good back up on loan from Rangers. Means Craig and Davidson have been well phased out, with Wotherspoon as my experienced back up now. Pleased with this one and again Scottish, knows the league and has excellent physical stats to get from one end of the pitch to the other. For whatever reason this seasons formation is paying off for the B2B guys as they're getting more chances and stretching beyond teams which is great to see.

In other league news, Rangers spent 11.5million on Dan James and Celtic spent 25milllion on several players, including the permanent transfer of Daniel Podence for 7million. Realistically I'm never winning this league, so it might be the case that if I'm to win anything in this career and thread I might start searching elsewhere after next season. I'll see how much the board backs me. I've got my eyes on a few players who'd improve us, but they wont come cheaply!  

[PB1994]

11 minutes ago, Widge said:

January Transfer Window 2022

As previously mentioned, I wasn't looking to do any major surgery to my squad or team in this window. More line up some replacements for aging players who were looking to leave, as well as try and future proof for next season a little.

On that note, I've extended the contracts of all my key youngsters and better players. Clark and McCann both signed new 4 year deals and there were some new contracts for Liam Craig (player/coach) and Jamie McCart as well, who's been excellent. 

Transfers Out

Hendry isn't playing and to be totally honest, why he got a new deal I'll never know. He's my 3rd choice striker but he's not progressed, is on a largish wage and never performs. He'll be one I look to ship out in the summer for sure, he's never making an impact at us. Plus I've got a young 16 year old kid out on loan at Edinburgh City who's scoring nicely and is already rated at 2 stars with 5 star potential. 

The rest were sent out to affiliated club Waterford. They weren't getting game time and if all goes well they improve, get game time and can come back and stay as reserves next season and 3rd, 5th and 4th choice in their positions respectively. 

Liam Gordon as mentioned doesn't feel he's good enough to play for saints any more for some reason, so off he went to Livingston. It's annoying since I gave him a new improved deal last season to ward of interest from Hibs and he was actually playing and doing alright. However he's now decided he cant hack it for us, so has moved to a team literally 4 places below. He's another who'll probably be getting sent packing in the summer.

I failed to get rid of Davidson and he failed himself so he's staying and wants off the transfer list as well!

Transfers In

Kean Bryan is my Gordon replacement and he looks good already. 25 years old, good stats, played at a high level and wasn't looking for extortionate wages unlike a lot of the trialists I took on. He's my second best centre back right now and will be competing with McCart for the left hand side spot given he's a leftie too. Happy to have him and he's better than Gordon for sure, plus he signed a 3 year deal so we should have him for his prime years. Means I don't need to replace 2 centre backs in the summer, just Mengi if I can't get him back for a third year.

Lewis Strapp comes in as cheap back up and competition for Tanser. He's on peanuts and my plan was to get Josh Reid out on loan to try and develop him, but that hasn't worked. Long term Reid is going to be my first choice, but at 19 he's not there yet! Strapp is a solid option, as I said cheap and more importantly Scottish, as I'm still trying to keep the majority of my squad nationals. 

Jamie Lindsay was my big purchase and one I actually agreed in November when I knew Davidson wanted away. Small price to pay to get him in 6 months early, but worth it I'd say. I've now got 3 box to box players at a good level, Lindsay and McCann as the first choices and Stephen Kelly is a good back up on loan from Rangers. Means Craig and Davidson have been well phased out, with Wotherspoon as my experienced back up now. Pleased with this one and again Scottish, knows the league and has excellent physical stats to get from one end of the pitch to the other. For whatever reason this seasons formation is paying off for the B2B guys as they're getting more chances and stretching beyond teams which is great to see.

In other league news, Rangers spent 11.5million on Dan James and Celtic spent 25milllion on several players, including the permanent transfer of Daniel Podence for 7million. Realistically I'm never winning this league, so it might be the case that if I'm to win anything in this career and thread I might start searching elsewhere after next season. I'll see how much the board backs me. I've got my eyes on a few players who'd improve us, but they wont come cheaply!  

I must say I have never seen a player say they want to leave as they feel they are not good enough to play at the level the club is at.

[Widge]

25 minutes ago, PB1994 said:

I must say I have never seen a player say they want to leave as they feel they are not good enough to play at the level the club is at.

Was a weird one for sure, he was playing in the first team and playing absolutely fine. Don't really know what prompted it, but he was having no convincing. 

[oneteaminglasgow]

26 minutes ago, Widge said:

Was a weird one for sure, he was playing in the first team and playing absolutely fine. Don't really know what prompted it, but he was having no convincing. 

Aye it’s really strange. I’ve had boys tell me they’re not good enough so want to leave, but they’ve always been right that they’re not good enough.

Was there any interest in Davidson at all? I’ve had a few where the guy wants to leave, no one wants to buy them and then they get upset at me for not selling them...

[Widge]

23 minutes ago, oneteaminglasgow said:

Aye it’s really strange. I’ve had boys tell me they’re not good enough so want to leave, but they’ve always been right that they’re not good enough.

Was there any interest in Davidson at all? I’ve had a few where the guy wants to leave, no one wants to buy them and then they get upset at me for not selling them...

Nah, I offered him out for nothing at all, but nobody wanted him. I even asked him to find a new club, but he failed so as a result he's happy enough to stay for now and wanted off the transfer list. 

[Widge]

Neither needed, or necessary to say the least. Couldn't bear the thought of him sitting in Ireland all bored and alone, so looks like we're getting the band back together guys!!

[Widge]

January 2022 - March 2022

So into the new year we went looking to carry on our decent form, results below. 

In all honesty, pretty poor. Our form dropped totally off a cliff and we were dumped unceremoniously out the cup at home against Rangers (I hate them!). We seemed to have developed a habit of drawing games we should have won. For example that last game against Aberdeen, we conceded in 97 minutes, after only 5 were added on, safe to say I was raging. Stand out result definitely beating Aberdeen 4-1, absolutely battered them in the first half and I'm only annoyed we stopped slicing through them at will. Back to back losses against the bottom 2 teams was having me tearing my hair out.

Big Dan N'Lundulu stepping up once again with the goals, the lad is unstoppable and for someone with 7 composure he's not exactly guilty of missing chances. 

That leaves the table below....

So same position as last season so far, but much much better places. Kilmarnock are the biggest surprises for me, they've been incredibly good. What I will say, the league is a lot more open this year, all the teams have lost and drawn games against each other which kind of gives me hope. There's a few players out of contract that I've got my eyes on and who knows maybe I'll finally be able to get Jake Doyle-Hayes from St Mirren, but he's probably not good enough for my midfield now. There are certainly a few areas I need to improve and once again there are several older players to phase out and move away from the team.

[Widge]

Post Split 2022

So with 5 games left of the season, we were kind of playing for 4th once again, not much chance of us catching Kilmarnock and virtually no way for us to be caught by Motherwell, so no real improvement placement wise, but I definitely think much better play and squad wise.

Ohh dear, our regular loss to Rangers, but at least we scored some goals. Beat Hearts after being 1-0 down at halftime. Then I realised our position was pretty much set and decided to play some youngsters, fringe players and give Davidson a fairwell tour basically. It did mean that we scored no goals and didn't win any of the games, but it is what it is, we were safe. So that left the table like this...

So the title race was a lot closer this year, Rangers have regressed. Kilmarnock absolutely smashed it under Derek Adams which was a bit of a surprise to say the least! Either way I'm happy in 4th, we've improved last year and will get another attempt at Europe, hopefully we last a little longer than last time, as I think we'd be better prepared with a larger squad.

Team Review

That was the best XI for me this season apparently. No issues with any of them, except maybe Kelly, who in the end was replaced by Jamie Lindsay. Biggest surprise this season and one of the biggest positives, definitely the form of both McCowan and McLennan who performed above and beyond expectations. Finally a big shout out to my boy Dan N'Lundulu, one man wrecking ball at times either up front or out wide. It's making be wonder if I need another striker next season (I've got someone big in mind) or whether I just get him on loan again and hope when his deal expires in January he'll sign on permanently. Think it's safe to say bigger clubs than me might be after him since he finished the leagues top goal scorer with 23 goals. Interestingly enough for a free transfer and only £600/week, Luke McCowan is now worth 1.8million. @RandomGuy. scouting obviously paying off in many ways!

 

[Widge]

Summer Window 2022

So another summer transfer window has come in Perth, two 4th place finishes in a row the previous seasons, is this the season where we could push on and actually finish just a little closer to the top of the table, I very much doubt it, but at least we're going to aim to make the Europa League Group stages this season, along with trying to win some silverware. Previous seasons have seen us exit disappointingly and I don't want that to be the case. I'm not sure how many more seasons at saints I'll stay, but I am not leaving until I bring home a trophy of some sort that's for sure. 

There were some big names floating around the transfer market on PCA's this year, the biggest of which was Lawrence Shankland, here's the kicker, had United not managed to squeeze through the play offs against Ross County, he would never have signed a new deal and I reckon he'd have been a St Johnstone player. Am I annoyed that it transpired this way, not especially as his goalscoring isn't amazing despite excellent stats and high scout rating. It also meant I had to think a little left field and use my budget more creatively and look for some bargains. 

As with every season, the aim is to sign young Scottish players who can be sold on for profit or eventually reach the full national team.

Transfers Out 

The obligatory youngsters head out the door, with most never going to make it at saints, but still hold some potential so it's a case of waiting to see if it comes to anything. As for the senior players exiting, the only 2 of note are Callum Hendry, again he's never going to make it for us and Josh Reid. Now I bought Reid last season but to be honest he never really produced and was a bit disappointing, I get that he was only 19 when he joined, but the fact he never really pushed Tanser says it all. So for that reason when Hearts offered me a good fee where I'd get my money back and allow me to move for another target, who was I to stand in his way. Hope he does well, but his replacement has far more potential if you ask me. 

The only other one to look out for is Paul Seal, a regen I signed from TNS, he's already rated at 2 and a half stars, can play anywhere across the attacking third and is still only 17. He's never played a senior game for us and I was a little surprised when United offered to take him on loan. So off he's gone to another Premiership team as a regular starter and hopefully it does him good and he can come back and add something to the squad next year. I'm seeing him as a replacement for Wotherspoon, who's on the way out and doesn't really play at all, so he's got barely any boots to fill when he does return. 

Transfers In

Paul Seal - As mentioned, a youngster with excellent potential from Wales, got him for nothing and have nothing to lose on him, but I've high hopes.

Ross Stewart - Took advantage of Ross County getting relegated and signed their star man for 1/10th of his true value. He signed for me and immediately sat at being worth 1.4 million. Now he's not going to be a first choice; however he'll provide excellent cover and competition at left wing and striker, offering something different to what I've got currently and for the price I got him at, I couldn't say no could I?

Jake Doyle-Hayes - So after trying to sign him 2 seasons ago for free, I finally got my man. St Mirren also got relegated and he was the only man I wanted from their squad. I don't know why I got him so cheap, but I wasn't complaining. He even took a wage cut to join me and isn't expecting to start. The reality is, he probably will start as he's excellent, but my midfield is pretty stacked right now and is all young Scottish guys (I'm counting Ali McCann, he's fake Irish!). So I'm expecting a good season from him to say the least.

Jack Hendry - I've seen people moan about him not leaving their Celtic squads, I couldn't resist taking him into mines. Automatically becomes a starting centreback with his ability and didn't ask for outrageous wages as I'd thought he might. Great signing for me and allows me to continue playing out from the back.

Josh Doig - Replaced one left back Josh with another. A definite upgrade and I'm amazed Hibs let him go. He was first choice last season, but a decent cash offer was enough to tempt them into parting with him. I think that's a mistake on their part to say the least and I expect him to become a very, very valuable player in a few seasons. Still young and plenty of ability already, he will become my first choice left back for sure. Battling it out with Kean Bryan who's more solid depending on the opposition, Bryan is also my third choice centreback now that Hendry has joined. 

Kyle Turner - Transfer listed and nothing more than very cheap back up, has some decent stats and will chip in with assists and goals based on last season with Hearts. Wont get a better player for less than £600/week that's for sure. He's 5th choice in the middle and was happy to join based on that. 

Should also say that both my loanees, Teden Mengi and Dan N'Lundulu agreed 12 and 6 month loan extensions respectively. Couldn't believe that Mengi would, really please tey both have though. Leads me on to this....

His Southampton deal expires in January, so I've got him on loan until then. I knew he was out of contract so tried to offer him a deal, but he wanted £15k/week. Went and had a little look after the season started and low and behold he was within my budget, so welcome permanently you big French b*****d, long may you score plenty of goals!! Interestingly enough I'd tried to sign both Callum Lang and Jack Marriot as his replacement thinking he'd eventually leave and neither can touch him, but both wanted the world. Delighted with the signing. 

European Competitions

Well that's gone quite nicely! Easy win versus Suduva from Lithuania in the first leg, meant I could play the reserves in the second and they were 2-0 at halftime. Only tiredness and complacency meant we didn't win in a stadium we've lost in recently as well.

As for the CSKA Moscow game, turns out Christian Benteke is shite. Missed a penalty and several easy chances in the away game, we actually lost a 96th minute goal which I thought was an open, but we held firm in the home game and pushed into the group stages for the first time. European football isn't ready for Luke McCowan, that I can tell you.

As for the group...

Could have been a lot worse. I fancy us against Olimpija and hello old friends Rosenborg. Don't you worry guys, Stevie May is still around in my squad and he knows exactly how to put the ball in the back of the net against you. Bilbao is a write off already I suspect. Still we'll give it our best shot!

[RandomGuy.]

An excellent squad you're building there  

[Widge]

13 hours ago, RandomGuy. said:

An excellent squad you're building there  

You say that, but my bench usually still consists of guys including O’Halloran, May, Parish, Wotherspoon. I don’t really have the subs or the budget to impact games via subs. The only choice usually is a central midfield change or throwing Ross Stewart on and going long. 
 

Still I’ve given up looking at players in game stats, there’s no point. Luke McCowan is apparently a 3 star win side forward who is a decent Prem player, yet he’s worth 6 million and is easily the best option I have out there. I think the most pleasing one though is Danny McNamara, started as a 2 star right back, now a 3 and a half star player. 

[RandomGuy.]

2 minutes ago, Widge said:

You say that, but my bench usually still consists of guys including O’Halloran, May, Parish, Wotherspoon.

How has Parish survived?!