Season Fourteen

May 3, 2015 WhiskeyandwingbacksLeave a comment

Racing Luxembourg
With club, for country.

Season Fourteen:

Another monumental season for the club, but mainly for the country – where a whole host of my players were called up, with the vast majority being for their new nation. It now leaves my squad with much more of a Luxembourger feel, albeit with a very South American feel to it. The next group of imports have arrived; including this man – Bocao, who, when you consider the league is on par with League 2 – he’s incredible!

Once again, we dominated the league and once again, we broke the goalscoring records. I’m realy hoping that there will be a breakout team coming soon and there will be some challenge domestically.

In Europe, we agonisingly lost to Salzburg on away goals in our attempt to qualify for the Group Stage of the Champions League, but did not embarrass ourselves in the Europa League, drawing with giants Man City in Luxembourg and recording our first win in European group stages against Genk.

Objectives:

To win promotion back to the top tier of Luxembourg football – completed May 2015.
To have a player in my squad earn a call up to the Luxembourg team – completed by Jonathon Rodrigues in June 2015.
To nationalise a player from my current squad for the Luxembourg squad – completed by Jonathon Rodrigues in June 2015 (he starts the game as a Brazilian national, despite being born in this country).
To qualify for European competition – completed May 2016.
To be able to scout outside of Luxembourg – completed June 2021.
To sign a player from outside of Luxembourg – completed June 2021, Juninho was signed on a free transfer.
To win the league – completed May 2020.
To turn professional – completed June 2021
To have most/the whole of the top league to be professional.
To nationalise a signing I have made for the Luxembourg squad (completed by many players in 2027)
To have one academy graduate reach the first team – completed by Daniel Bianchini in August 2021.
To have one academy graduate represent the Luxembourg national team – completed by Daniel Bianchini in November 2020 (he also scored on his debut).
To reach the group stages of a European competition (reached the Europa League group stage in 2024 and Champions League in 2026)
To reach the knockout stages of a European competition.
To win a European competition.
To improve the league co-efficient to increase qualification places for European competition (1 CL and 3 EL at start).
To promote a feeder club made up mainly of players loaned from my club.

To have a player from Racing play in an international that Luxembourg win (completed March 2019 with a 3-2 win over Moldova in the European Qualifiers)
To have a player from Racing play in a major international competition.
To have a player from Racing play in a major international competition with Luxembourg.
To have a player from Racing win a major international competition.
To have a player from Racing win a major international competition with Luxembourg.
To have a player win a major individual honour.
To have a one academy graduate win a major individual honour.

Season Thirteen

April 25, 2015 WhiskeyandwingbacksLeave a comment

Racing Luxembourg
With club, for country.

Season Thirteen:

A watershed season for the club as we progressed into the Champions League group stages for the first time; reaping the benefits of the £6m prize money. We firstly overcame Codru Jr and a very poor Celtic side before hammering another surprisingly weak opponent in Steaua. Drawn against Real Madrid, Marseille and CSKA Moscow – we had no chance, but didn’t embarrass ourselves, losing only 3-0 at the Bernabeu. Once again, with the right draw – I feel that group stages of either competition are attainable now with each season. Our co-efficient suggests we are by far the weakest team in the competition, but I can deal with that. We now need to see improvement from other clubs, and hopefully they can actually win at least one match.

We lost our 100% record to Jeunesse who actually performed very well and are starting to spend a bit of money, if only to accrue the best of the local talent. Hopefully they can foray outside of Luxembourg soon and build up a team capable of challenging us. We recorded our biggest win; 13-0 over US Hostert and Pedrinho scored 7 goals, another record.

Other news:

A big summer lies ahead as my foreign imports are now eligible to take up nationality. I believe that, once they are capped – they will probably be sold and I’ll rebuild again; in order to increase the amount of players who could one day be eligible.

Objectives:

I am making some big steps with the objectives now – there are not too many left to achieve. However, these ones will take a long time to achieve and I’d say I am now probably half way towards doing so; maybe another 15-20 seasons of progress like this will leave us where I aimed for Luxembourg to be.

To win promotion back to the top tier of Luxembourg football – completed May 2015.
To have a player in my squad earn a call up to the Luxembourg team – completed by Jonathon Rodrigues in June 2015.
To nationalise a player from my current squad for the Luxembourg squad – completed by Jonathon Rodrigues in June 2015 (he starts the game as a Brazilian national, despite being born in this country).
To qualify for European competition – completed May 2016.
To be able to scout outside of Luxembourg – completed June 2021.
To sign a player from outside of Luxembourg – completed June 2021, Juninho was signed on a free transfer.
To win the league – completed May 2020.
To turn professional – completed June 2021
To have most/the whole of the top league to be professional.
To nationalise a signing I have made for the Luxembourg squad.
To have one academy graduate reach the first team – completed by Daniel Bianchini in August 2021.
To have one academy graduate represent the Luxembourg national team – completed by Daniel Bianchini in November 2020 (he also scored on his debut).
To reach the group stages of a European competition (reached the Europa League group stage in 2024 and Champions League in 2026)
To reach the knockout stages of a European competition.
To win a European competition.
To improve the league co-efficient to increase qualification places for European competition (1 CL and 3 EL at start).
To promote a feeder club made up mainly of players loaned from my club.

To have a player from Racing play in an international that Luxembourg win (completed March 2019 with a 3-2 win over Moldova in the European Qualifiers)
To have a player from Racing play in a major international competition.
To have a player from Racing play in a major international competition with Luxembourg.
To have a player from Racing win a major international competition.
To have a player from Racing win a major international competition with Luxembourg.
To have a player win a major individual honour.
To have a one academy graduate win a major individual honour.

Season Twelve

April 25, 2015April 25, 2015 WhiskeyandwingbacksLeave a comment

Racing Luxembourg
With club, for country.

Season Twelve:

Entering back in the first qualifying round of the Champions League; we overcame St Julia 17-0 on aggregate and Shirak before losing to Olympiacos. We then failed to beat Turkish side Trabzonspor in the Europa League playoff.

Once again, the league was a cakewalk and we broke the record for most goals scored – beating our previous best by one. I’m really hoping that other teams come through and start to push us soon; we are approaching 150 games unbeaten now. Dudelange finished in their worst position since the game started and dispensed of their manager – which is good to see that there is some variance; albeit not enough to challenge me.

Other news:

The first wave of foreign signings are now one year from being able to take Luxembourger nationality, which is promising news for the struggling national team. The loanee I took from Perugia; Antonio Faggin took nationality and represented Luxembourg, which is a positive as he already was EU. I won’t update it on my objectives as he wasn’t a permanent signing across any of the five, yearly loan deals.

Objectives:

To win promotion back to the top tier of Luxembourg football – completed May 2015.
To have a player in my squad earn a call up to the Luxembourg team – completed by Jonathon Rodrigues in June 2015.
To nationalise a player from my current squad for the Luxembourg squad – completed by Jonathon Rodrigues in June 2015 (he starts the game as a Brazilian national, despite being born in this country).
To qualify for European competition – completed May 2016.
To be able to scout outside of Luxembourg – completed June 2021.
To sign a player from outside of Luxembourg – completed June 2021, Juninho was signed on a free transfer.
To win the league – completed May 2020.
To turn professional – completed June 2021
To have most/the whole of the top league to be professional.
To nationalise a signing I have made for the Luxembourg squad.
To have one academy graduate reach the first team – completed by Daniel Bianchini in August 2021.
To have one academy graduate represent the Luxembourg national team – completed by Daniel Bianchini in November 2020 (he also scored on his debut).
To reach the group stages of a European competition (reached the Europa League group stage in 2024)
To reach the knockout stages of a European competition.
To win a European competition.
To improve the league co-efficient to increase qualification places for European competition (1 CL and 3 EL at start).
To promote a feeder club made up mainly of players loaned from my club.

To have a player from Racing play in an international that Luxembourg win (completed March 2019 with a 3-2 win over Moldova in the European Qualifiers)
To have a player from Racing play in a major international competition.
To have a player from Racing play in a major international competition with Luxembourg.
To have a player from Racing win a major international competition.
To have a player from Racing win a major international competition with Luxembourg.
To have a player win a major individual honour.
To have a one academy graduate win a major individual honour.

Season Eleven

April 18, 2015 WhiskeyandwingbacksLeave a comment

Racing Luxembourg
With club, for country.

Season Eleven:

A simply incredible season. Buoyed by the signings of Pedrinho (yes, you read that goal tally correctly) and Bento – we are now the strongest we’ve ever been. A new, more aggressive tactic, which plays like a fluent 3-3-1-3 has also been implemented to make this the best season in our history.

A tough task against Partizan in the 2nd qualifying round was given to us (next season we enter at Rnd. 1 again due to poor performances). I was pessimistic, but somehow we managed a 4-1 and 1-2 victories to go through 6-2 on aggregate. A much easier tie against Dundalk followed which led us to the Champions League Playoff. We lost to Olympiakos 6-2 on aggregate but entered the Europa League, at the group stage. Drawn against Standard, Athletic and Kobenhavn; we avoided the big teams but only came out with 1 point, a draw against Standard. I expected nothing more – but the £4m it gave me, and the massive rise in reputation will long outlive this campaign. A good draw each year, and repeating this is a possibility.

The league was incredible – we notched up 11-0, 10-0, a couple of 9’s and several 8’s. I am now pretty much using the Instant Result for all league games – as we are now putting 8 past Dundelange on regular occasions too.

I guess this may get a little monotonous, but until I can start loaning out my players to this league, they aren’t going to be getting any better. The league has dropped to a new low of 98th in the Europe – however, I know my European results will help this grow again.

Other news:

I’ve had a few mentions of the ‘Would consider playing for Luxembourg once he has lived in the country for the period of time’ (or words to that effect). So my plan is to make quite a 5-year-process from here on in. Faggin, my loanee from Perugia is now about 50 days away from being eligible so it will be interesting to see if Europeans are willing to switch. The main group of imports are three years in; so I have another two years whilst I wait to see if they take nationality and make themselves eligible. I imagine then I will be selling the squad players and replacing them – thus moving the new-national pool of players on. Time will tell though…

Objectives:

Nothing new, yet.

Season Ten

April 17, 2015 WhiskeyandwingbacksLeave a comment

Racing Luxembourg
With club, for country.

Season Ten:

Nice and short as time is of the essence once again. But once again, a cakewalk in the league but struggles in Europe. We drew Ludogrets in the 2nd round and went out – which, to my shock, displeased the board! I maintain that we are but a good run from the group stages of the Europa League; which will massively increase our reputation and cash flow, if only to give us 6 hammerings.

In the league, I lost my 100% record that stretched 49 games with a draw against Dudelange, aside that from – we swept away the others, but lacked the fluency and the big scores of the season before.

Off the pitch, we solidified with three South Americans with dual passports – one has gone on record saying he would already be willing to represent Luxembourg after five years here. That bodes well; I was concerned about having dual-European nationalities as it seemingly makes them less likely to want to take Luxembourger nationality. A worry as contracts run down is that I only have three of four Luxembourgers in the squad – I’ll have to fill up from the youth team for European registration. The first batch on professionals have another three years until they become eligible for nationality and the next step in my plan.

Season Nine

April 12, 2015April 12, 2015 WhiskeyandwingbacksLeave a comment

Racing Luxembourg
With club, for country.

Season Nine:

Pre Season:

Not a part I’ve covered before in its own right; but now we announced our professional status – I feel it’s a must! Firstly, our club and nation co-efficient rose significantly over the summer; Dudelenge turned professional and we agreed to spend a considerable amount on increasing our facilities – hopefully a Champions League run will supplement this income.

To my delight, the board decided that I could finally scout outside of the country; but they didn’t just stop at Europe – they allowed me freedom to scout the whole world. Firstly, I was inundated with agent offers, I scouted the players and brought many in on trial. These players were significantly better than anything I already had at the club so most were signed – and on very affordable wages too. Going from a strong Luxembourger contingent last year, we are now left with a very multicultural first team squad, although I have tried to keep a group of nationalities together to help them settle in. The Brazilians and Argentinians are targets for nationalisation. In came Juninho, Pituca, Fernando Gomez, Cristian Sanfilippo, Fabrice Ngoulou-Yakali, Juan Iganicio Bezzone, Pedro Rocha, Nicolás Canella, Fabiano, Armindo Macedo and Huan Jiantao. Fabiano is the pick of that bunch, but to be able to sign Pedro Rocha on a Bosman from another team (albeit a B team) shows that our reputation is increasing. I did, however, forget the four foreign player limit when registering my players; and as such – I managed to cause a bit of annoyance at having to leave out a few players – and no one was willing to sign them on loan. It takes five years to gain a Luxembourger nationality; and I cannot risk having these unregistered players in my team for five years only playing cup games – this is something I’ll look to address next summer.

The new look side disposed of Azeri club Qarabag Agdam in the 2nd qualifying round of the Champions League, before coming unstuck against Malmo, again. We then lost against once-winners Lille in the Europa League playoff. These are now kind of the runs I expect, we are only a good draw away from qualifying for the Europa League group stages, I feel.

The league was an absolute cakewalk, I don’t have any other words to describe our dominance. The pick of player performances is Fabiano who has been completely unstoppable on the wing, and Tom Lehnan (who is actually a Luxembourger) running riot up top. The 100% record definitely does not flatter us, and unfortunately Dundelange lost pace with us towards the end – at around the 20 game mark, they had gone 100% too, except for the two defeats against us. I’m expecting this kind of thing for the next few seasons – I have far superior players and my reputation is growing faster than the rest of the league. Once the leagues co-efficient has grown, my loanees are more likely to join clubs in the division and thus help strengthen them, which will then bring about more competition.

Objectives:

To win promotion back to the top tier of Luxembourg football – completed May 2015.
To have a player in my squad earn a call up to the Luxembourg team – completed by Jonathon Rodrigues in June 2015.
To nationalise a player from my current squad for the Luxembourg squad – completed by Jonathon Rodrigues in June 2015 (he starts the game as a Brazilian national, despite being born in this country).
To qualify for European competition – completed May 2016.
To be able to scout outside of Luxembourg – completed June 2021.
To sign a player from outside of Luxembourg – completed June 2021, Juninho was signed on a free transfer.
To win the league – completed May 2020.
To turn professional – completed June 2021
To have most/the whole of the top league to be professional.
To nationalise a signing I have made for the Luxembourg squad.
To have one academy graduate reach the first team – completed by Daniel Bianchini in August 2021.
To have one academy graduate represent the Luxembourg national team – completed by Daniel Bianchini in November 2020 (he also scored on his debut).
To reach the group stages of a European competition.
To reach the knockout stages of a European competition.
To win a European competition.
To improve the league co-efficient to increase qualification places for European competition (1 CL and 3 EL at start).
To promote a feeder club made up mainly of players loaned from my club.

To have a player from Racing play in an international that Luxembourg win (completed March 2019 with a 3-2 win over Moldova in the European Qualifiers)
To have a player from Racing play in a major international competition.
To have a player from Racing play in a major international competition with Luxembourg.
To have a player from Racing win a major international competition.
To have a player from Racing win a major international competition with Luxembourg.
To have a player win a major individual honour.
To have a one academy graduate win a major individual honour.

Season Eight

April 10, 2015 WhiskeyandwingbacksLeave a comment

Racing Luxembourg
With club, for country.

Season Eight :

We made amends for the disappointment last year, and earned back our Champions League qualifying slot, however we did need to enter at the first round this time. We faced San Marinese side Murata – who we dispatched 8-1 on aggregate. Up next was Georgian side Sapovnela-2, who we beat 6-0 in both legs. We salved a credible draw away at Malmo in the third qualifying round but was outdone 2-3 in the home leg – despite being 2-1 up. We took well over £600k in prize money and entered the Europa League playoff; a stage we have never reached before. We lost in Slovenia to another late goal and offered very little at home, losing 0-3. This, however – is by far our best run in Europe and left us with over £1.6m in the bank.

Unfortunately; none of the other clubs managed a goal, let alone a win in their second round qualifiers in the Europa League – which, considering that they aren’t all that far behind me in terms of league standings, is really disappointing!

We started slowly in the league, drawing three of the first five – I will attribute this to a European hangover! As we built momentum we destroyed Dudelange 3-0 at home in late October to return to the top of the league on goal difference. We went on a run of 16 games won in a row, and could have secured the title with a win over Dudelange – but we drew 1-1. We did, however, wrap the title up in the next game. This is the third title in a row and it seems as if we are now establishing dominance. This is fine; it’s the clubs 14th league title (although this is not accurate with IRL) and we need to catch Jeunesse on 29!

Other news:

We made two very important signings at the start of the season; that of Antonio Luisi – who has scored everywhere he has been in his career and is probably the best player in the domestic leagues. I also signed Ruben Marques from parent club Academica. Both of these are pretty much the finishing touches to a what is now a very strong first eleven. In January, two more joined from my new affiliate – FC Utretch, winger Rick Mud and midfielder Steven Boer. I’ve also added Las Palmas as another feeder, my second Spanish team.

Most importantly, the board announced that we will be turning professional at the end of the season. Full time status will be a fantastic achievement for the club and starts the next phase of my development within this game. I’m hoping it brings with it a bigger scouting range and development of the players I have at the club.

Objectives:

Nothing this season – but should be able to add the professional status next season, providing it is confirmed!

___________________________________

I’ve taken a lot of inspiration for this game from a save over on the SI Forums in Gibraltar. That save is way ahead of mine (2051 if I recall) but they started off the same, except slightly lower in reputation. It appears that club success takes a long time – they didn’t win the Europa league until about 2040 and even then still struggled against the big teams, and the league was not great, although one or two teams did make the group stages of European competitions. It was noted that the Gibraltan youth was still very poor and the national team was only benefiting from nationalised players, mainly brought into the country by the human manager. Unlike me, he won the league every year and had something like a 200+ game unbeaten run – with 100% seasons being common; this may be something that I have to go through in order to reach the final goal of a highly reputable league and successful footballing nation.

Season Seven

April 9, 2015 WhiskeyandwingbacksLeave a comment

Racing Luxembourg
With club, for country.

Season Seven:

The season started with some mixed news; firstly – that we’d be spending about £400k to improve our facilities, both training and youth. This is quite expensive, but with Champions League money coming up – I felt it was worth it. However, we had some worrying messages that the nation co-efficient had significantly dropped; the league is back to one and a half stars, and this seasons winner will enter at the first qualification round of the Champions league instead of the second. However, our own reputation within Europe significantly increased.

We had a really tough draw in our first ever venture in the Champions League, facing Steaua Bucharest – however we came away from Romania with a fantastic 1-1 draw. We lost 3-1 at home thanks to a late flurry but did take in nearly £500k in prize money and gate reciepts. Steaua went on to face Cliftonville – the kind of team I’d have fancied us to beat. I do think that, given the right draw; the third round next year is a target – however, we will have to play four games to get there given our drop in reputation.

The league started fantastically – we scored four times in five of our first six games. We lost in November to Dundelange but had already built a large gap over them and went into the winter break with 37 points from a possible 42. Some points were dropped in the latter part fo the season, and Dundelange kept the pressure on, but we had the sweetest of 1-0 victories over them in game week 25 which gave us the title.

We also secured our first ever double, by winning the Coupe de Luxembourg with a 1-0 victory over Rumelange.

Other news:

I picked up Nelson Texeira from Hamm Benfica for about £4k – he looks another promising forward. I have also now accrued three parent clubs; Perugia, Recretarivo and Academica; with the first two sending me two players on loan – both of whom are very very good for this division, winger Atienza and midfielder Faggin. I will look to continue to pick up senior affiliates and loan in players that way; particularly as I cannot scout abroad still.

Dundelange renounced their professional status when they failed to qualify for the Champions League, however – Jeunesse became a professional outfit over the summer. I think turning professional is on the cards, and only a matter of time.

Objectives:

With my new senior affiliates, I have secured two signings from abroad – however, these are loan signings and will not count towards my objective. I did, however, promote Daniel Bianchini to the first team, who surprisingly earned a call up to the full national team at 16 and even scored on his debut.

To win promotion back to the top tier of Luxembourg football – completed May 2015.
To have a player in my squad earn a call up to the Luxembourg team – completed by Jonathon Rodrigues in June 2015.
To nationalise a player from my current squad for the Luxembourg squad – completed by Jonathon Rodrigues in June 2015 (he starts the game as a Brazilian national, despite being born in this country).
To qualify for European competition – completed May 2016.
To be able to scout outside of Luxembourg.
To sign a player from outside of Luxembourg.
To win the league – completed May 2020.
To turn professional.
To have most/the whole of the top league to be professional.
To nationalise a signing I have made for the Luxembourg squad.
To have one academy graduate reach the first team – completed by Daniel Bianchini in August 2021.
To have one academy graduate represent the Luxembourg national team – completed by Daniel Bianchini in November 2020 (he also scored on his debut).
To reach the group stages of a European competition.
To reach the knockout stages of a European competition.
To win a European competition.
To improve the league co-efficient to increase qualification places for European competition (1 CL and 3 EL at start).
To promote a feeder club made up mainly of players loaned from my club.

To have a player from Racing play in an international that Luxembourg win (completed March 2019 with a 3-2 win over Moldova in the European Qualifiers)
To have a player from Racing play in a major international competition.
To have a player from Racing play in a major international competition with Luxembourg.
To have a player from Racing win a major international competition.
To have a player from Racing win a major international competition with Luxembourg.
To have a player win a major individual honour.
To have a one academy graduate win a major individual honour.

Season Six

April 8, 2015April 8, 2015 WhiskeyandwingbacksLeave a comment

Racing Luxembourg
With club, for country.

Season Six:

Following a second round defeat last year in Isreal, I hoped for some slightly favourable draws this year, in hope of reaching the third qualifying round again. We drew Minsk in the first round, a tough tie, but went through on away goals. Next up we faced anther formidable task, this time Lechia of Poland. We held them at home but lost two nil on our travels. Winning that tie would have resulted in a money spinner against Dinamo Moscow.

The league started well, but Dundelange scored 27 goals in their first four games and only conceded one – we kept pace but were essentially one point behind due to far inferior goal difference. However, we plugged on – drawing at home with the runaway leaders and picking up points when they dropped them. As we approached the home run, it didn’t matter that we lost 0-2 on our travels to them as we’d built a substantial gap. We’ve pretty much produced the perfect season and to beat the only professional team in the league but four points is no mean feat. I don’t know if they’ll come back stronger or this will be the start of domination – only time will tell!

We fell in the semi final stage of the Coupe de Luxembourg, but with the joys of winning the league – I’ll let this slide!

Other news:

We finally had a youth intake of note – every other year we have had half star players throughout. This makes me very excited for the future, even though we are well stocked in the striking department. I will be using Lehnan and Winckler, the two regen forwards I signed – as inside forwards with Bianchini up front.

I will also be culling a large part of my squad, as they are unhappy with first team football. I made the mistake in signing everyone to part time contracts – as such I can only offer them key or first team roles. This has meant that I have a lot of issues with my backup players not getting the football that they feel they deserve. I plan to cull the deadwood in the squad and try and sign as many people onto non-contracts as I can. Whilst I may gain money from the lack of wages – I need to take into account the appearance fees.

We also had a takeover this season, the new board agreed to improve the junior coaching, but nothing else. They did, however, say that with a prolonged period of time as the biggest club – we will turn professional. This can only be promising news.

Objectives:

To win promotion back to the top tier of Luxembourg football – completed May 2015.
To have a player in my squad earn a call up to the Luxembourg team – completed by Jonathon Rodrigues in June 2015.
To nationalise a player from my current squad for the Luxembourg squad – completed by Jonathon Rodrigues in June 2015 (he starts the game as a Brazilian national, despite being born in this country).
To qualify for European competition – completed May 2016.
To be able to scout outside of Luxembourg.
To sign a player from outside of Luxembourg.
To win the league. (completed May 2020)
To turn professional.
To have most/the whole of the top league to be professional.
To nationalise a signing I have made for the Luxembourg squad.
To have one academy graduate reach the first team.
To have one academy graduate represent the Luxembourg national team.
To reach the group stages of a European competition.
To reach the knockout stages of a European competition.
To win a European competition.
To improve the league co-efficient to increase qualification places for European competition (1 CL and 3 EL at start).
To promote a feeder club made up mainly of players loaned from my club.

To have a player from Racing play in an international that Luxembourg win (completed March 2019 with a 3-2 win over Moldova in the European Qualifiers)
To have a player from Racing play in a major international competition.
To have a player from Racing play in a major international competition with Luxembourg.
To have a player from Racing win a major international competition.
To have a player from Racing win a major international competition with Luxembourg.
To have a player win a major individual honour.
To have a one academy graduate win a major individual honour.

Season Five

April 7, 2015 WhiskeyandwingbacksLeave a comment

Racing Luxembourg
With club, for country.

Season Five:

I endured a tough summer; no one is really available that can improve my team, at least until we can scout outside of the country. We now just need to have faith in the squad we have and progress forwards.

In Europe, we once again entered at the first qualifying round, despite moving up 340 places following our exploits last time around. Never the less, we had a tough draw against Trnava, of Slovakia. We scraped past 2-1 after going down 1-0 in the away leg. What faced us was another trip to Israel, this time to face more formidable oppents in Maccabi Tel Aviv. We went out following 2-1 and 0-2 defeats; but did bring in £110k in gate reciepts from the home leg. I was a little disappointed as winning that would have set us up against either Domzale or AEK Larnakas; who I think would have been an easier opposition for us.

In an attempt to pose more of a threat going forward, I initially switched to a more aggressive 4-2-2-2, a move which saw me turn to two up top, something I’m not overly comfortable with and normally avoid. However, this exposed some gaps at the back and I quickly moved back to a 4-1-2-3 that I have used since the start of the game.

We started inconsistently, with two wins, a draw and a defeat from the first five; losing to Jeunesse and Dundelange – two teams I feel we needed to beat if we wanted to show title contender form. However, we pushed really hard and put together a very good run of results. It was tight going into the last game, and I put five past Fola Esch, but Dundelange scraped through 1-0 with a late goal to win on goal difference.

We also triumphed in the Coupe de Luxembourg to take our tally to three titles.

Objectives:

Nothing! Continued development.

Other news:

Very quiet, the chairman is willing to listen to offers, but I feel that turning pro etc is more a case of reputation rather than money or a stingy board.