A Football Manager Career

30: Three times in a Row?

Once again I didn't see any need to make drastic changes to the squad and we didn't sell a single player. We did however add a new right-back to the team as the youth player I had promoted hadn't shone quite as much in his chances as I had hoped and so I thought it wise to add a little more competition. I also spent a little on some of the top youth prospects in Spain to bolster the development squads. Other than that, though, it was once again an incredibly easy off-season with us able to focus on maintaining standards and getting the lads in the best possible condition for the new season. 

Whilst we were putting our faith in youth and development, the Madrid sides once again investment well over a hundred million between them – with not a single Spanish player signed. I had really thought that Spain would be my next national project seeing as I was in the league, but from what I had seen in my time in the country there was nowhere near enough focus on the future and so I was beginning to think I should look further afield. (And I hadn't been offered it, so screw them.)

As nothing much had changed in the squad, nothing much changed in our season. We sailed through the first half of the year without a single notable thing happening and sat top of the league in 2045 and were through to the next round of the Champions Cup with us not dropping a single point in the group stage. And, once again, we didn't make any signings in January as we didn't really have the funds and I couldn't see anything worthwhile out there. Whilst this was all as expected, something drastically different did happen in January: we didn't face A. Madrid in the Semis of the Super Cup and instead were able to dismiss Sevilla without breaking into a sweat with Broenland and Celenza continuing their prolific forms as the highest domestic scorers. We did however then have to face them in the final instead. Thankfully it turned out that they were clearly excellent semi-finalists instead of finalists and we beat them 1-0 in front of 93,750 people at the Neuvo Mestalla. The Super Cup matches saw the start of a ten game winning streak which put us seemingly out of reach of our title rivals and everyone was thrilled and loving their football.

Annoyingly, we were once again drawn against Tottenham in the Champions Cup 1st Knockout Round. We had beaten them 1-0 at home and because of our form we were confident of beating them in England too. Once again, however, we lost at The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and once again we were out of the cup at a stupidly early stage. Seamus Coleman was barely clinging onto his job as manager due to their woeful domestic form, but clearly he was taking a leaf out of my book and using the big cup games to save his job. It was infuriating, but I had been there and so I couldn't begrudge him personally even if we were once again the laughing stock of the cup.

We had four league games to re-gain our confidence before our Spanish Cup final against A. Madrid and we won three of them without conceding. In the fourth match, however, we were given a complete shock to our system as our undroppable and amazing keeper Morello went off early in the game with a knock. Since snapping him up from Argentinian obscurity Morello had become an absolute rock at the heart of our side and I had genuinely barely thought about that position in the years since we signed him. He had never previously had to miss a game for any reason and his absence shook us to the core and made me think I needed to sign a proper number two to give him that Szcesny/Fabianski rivalry to push him even further – though, admittedly, it would have made very little difference in that situation seeing as I didn't have my current youth number two on the bench anyway. After all, as I'm not a loser, I don't waste one of the seven substitute spots with a goalie! 

To my great annoyance, the coaching staff and physios told me that I wasn't able to start him in the next match. I had learned from my lesson, however, and he sat pride of place in that first seat on my bench. And thank God that he did as the match went all the way to penalties and I brought him on in the dying seconds of extra-time so he could bring us home that cup. He wasn't at his complete best and he did concede the first three shots against him, but he came good and saved the final two to lift that cup high. It was a brilliant feeling and I instantly gave him in a booster new contract in thanks before the lads were even back home in training.

The beautiful high of triumph was maintained as in the next couple of weeks we also managed to secure the league despite there being over a month of matches left until the end of the season! And, even better, our season wasn't yet over despite the absence of a Champions Cup run.

Whilst I had previously lamented the prospect of the Club World Championship coming so late in the season because of the player's exhaustion, this time I was thrilled. Without the Champions Cup final and with us having won the league so early, the team could relax a little in June and were able to fully prep ourselves for the tournament. Things were made easy for us with us being the clear favourites in group A with the other sides being Al-Ahli and New York City FC. It was great to see them and their fans in Finland and there was a tremendous atmosphere for the games. We didn't get complacent however and we smashed three goals past both of them and progressed to the Quarter Final against Tottenham.

Whilst they were clearly tired from their campaign, we were not. And, like Manchester United had done to us before, we were ready to humiliate them after they beat us in the cup. Broenland smashed four goals past them and I couldn't help but celebrate wildly when the final whistle was blown – even though Celenza had to go off just ten minutes after coming on due to a nasty injury that would keep him out until late into the pre-season. Next up we faced FC Bayern and we marched on to the final without pause with another clean sheet and yet more goals for Broenland. If Celenza was my favourite son because of our longterm relationship, then Broenland was my mistress. I am unsure if that works, but I don't care because I was on top of the world and it was him that was making it all possible.

In the final we faced our domestic rivals A. Madrid in a clear sign to the world that Spain ruled the game. It was a fantastic match with an incredibly competitive first-half. However, our domestic superiority and added fitness showed and we saw out yet another 2-0 win having not conceded a single goal all tournament and we upgraded our treble to a quadruple.

Despite our Champions Cup failure, that season would go down in history as one of my favourites and I couldn't wait for another season at this great club.