The first challenge was the second leg of the Champions League semi final, away at Barcelona. We had a good advantage to defend, we won the first leg 5-2 with a great performance at Croft Park. Now we had to defend and maybe strike on counter attacks… And things went perfectly in the first 50 minutes of the game, Asenjo saved a couple of good shots and young striker Pablo scored a great double. Barcelona reacted unbelievably well though and before we knew it they turned the game around, 3-2 in the 82nd minute! I was afraid that we might witness a disaster but we managed to keep cool and walk away from Nou Camp with the tickets to the final!

There was great entertainment in the other semi final too, Lyon beat Juventus 4-0 after losing 3-0 in the first leg! That meant that we had the same Champions League final as last season! We won it 1-0 back then but it wasn’t easy at all…

But until the final we had three more Premier League games to play, nice quiet matches without any type of pressure. My players did well despite not having any motivation in these game and finished the Premier League season with three more victories!

It was an outstanding Premier League season for us: 105 points and only 20 goals conceded, it’s a record that will be pretty difficult to beat!

And now the big final… Lyon had more or less the same squad as last season and they employed the same tactic, with a creative attacking midfielder as the key to their attacking game. Last season it was Pjanic, now they used Willians for that role. And they still had an outstanding strikeforce with Benzema and Mauricio upfront…

My young Spanish striker, Pablo, was in great shape again, he gave un the lead in the 21st minute with a placed shot and made the game a lot easier. We just had to control their midfield and take care of that attacking midfielder… We kept the game under control very well, Lyon had only one big chance to score but Asenjo, as usual, produced an amazing save to keep a clean sheet. We won it again!

That result pushed me to the top of the Romanian hall of fame, ahead of glorious managers like Mircea Lucescu!

There was one last game to be played, the FA Cup final with Everton. I didn’t expect to have any problems in that game, Everton simply didn’t have enough strength to give us headaches. Aquino scored the only goal of the game after dribbling past the whole defense plus the goalie but we missed another few chances, including a penalty kick! There you go, mission accomplished!

This last trophy pushed me into the European hall of fame, on the 18th place…

… and I was now 4th in the England hall of fame, right behind a certain Arsene Wenger

As I promised I resigned right after the FA Cup final…

I was surprised to find out that a lot of staff members decided to leave the club after my resignation… However, former star Michael Ballack, one of the coaches that I hired a few months ago decided to stay and the board appointed him as the new manager! I wish him luck! 

Here are my career stats, 321 games won out of 506… These are nothing more than numbers now, numbers and memories…

I owe you the player stats for this last season but I won’t make any comments about them, each of the players was absolutely wonderful this season, they dominated England and Europe and they did it in style!

There are a couple of players that I wish to present though. The first is Linas Urbsys, my Lithuanian regen midfielder, one of my favorite players. He is a great box to box midfielder now, wanted by all the big European clubs.

I brought him to Blyth back in 2012, we were playing in Coca-Cola Championship back then and he was only 17 years old! Despite that he was a first team regular right from the start!

The other player that made a real difference in my career is talented Brazilian striker Nicao. He is now one of the club’s legends, an amazing striker that can overcome any defender in the world, anytime!

I brought him from Brazil in 2013, at the beginning of my first Premier League season and he made an instant impact. He was a great contributor to the team, we couldn’t have gone this far without him.

Well, all good things must come to an end and I guess this is the end of my Football Manager 2009 career. If any of you might want to continue playing the career you can download the saved game from here, I saved it right before resigning.

It has been a wonderful experience and I thank you all for following the story, for your comments and continuous support. But the end of this story will be just the beginning of another one, hopefully a bigger and better one, a Football Manager 2010 story! Thank you for all the suggestions regarding the team I should manage in FM 10, I’ll reveal that my favorite right now is… Notts County, the oldest club in the world! They are playing in League Two right now and I would love the challenge of bringing them to glory… Anyway, I’m still thinking about it, so your suggestions are still welcome

I hope you liked the story, stay tuned for more with Football Manager 2010!

© www.footballmanagerstory.com

The first game in March was the Premier League match with 16th placed Wolves. I admire them because they play with courage, they always try to attack and score. And they did score, twice, but there was no doubt about the winner of the game, we scored four goals quite easily.

We had the FA Cup 6th round clash coming up, at home with Manchester City. We already won against them in the Carling Cup final and I was sure that we could win again. We had a poor first half and didn’t play particularly well in the second either. The only difference was that we converted our chances in the second half, just enough to secure the win.

Next up, the second leg of the Champions League battle with Deportivo La Coruna, not a very important one since we won the first leg 4-0 in February. We just had to defend well and maybe strike on counter attacks and that’s exactly what we did. Daniel Aquino and Nicao were lethal on breakaways and we won the game comfortably.

The quarter final draw placed us against… Arsenal. I would have preferred another opponent at this stage but I was quietly confident.

Next up, the Premier League away game at 7th placed Aston Villa. It was an even game but two players made the difference: goalkeeper Sergio Asenjo with a few amazing saves and centre back Tiberiu Radulescu with yet another unstoppable header from a corner kick.

It seemed that we were on course to go on unbeaten until the end of the season… But it wasn’t to be. Our next game was away at West Ham and guess what? I had 18 first team players away on international duty! Even worse, almost all the reserve and under 18 players were away on international duty too! Just take a look at my squad, how could I play a Premier League game?

I sent in a 16 year old goalkeeper, two amateur players, a draw would have been a miracle. The miracle didn’t happen after all, we conceded twice The only defeat of the season so far, quite frustrating to be honest.

With all the players back in the squad we won the next game easily, 2-0 at home with Sunderland. Daniel Aquino scored his 25th goal of the season after earning his first senior cap for Spain, a great season for him.

A quick look at the league table told us that we only needed one more win to secure the title with quite a few games to spare!

But until then we had to focus on the Champions League quarter final game, away at Arsenal. I knew that Arsenal were likely to score at least one goal, they are unstoppable at Emirates Stadium. All we had to do was score more than they would We played pretty well and striker Tomas Necid was in great form, he scored twice and placed a perfect assist for Liapis! Unfortunately, as I predicted, Arsenal scored more than once… They had a bit of help from the referee, he gave them a dubious penalty kick, and we could have avoided conceding the last goal… Anyway, it was a good result that gave us a great chance to get through to the semi finals.

We had the perfect chance to get the three points that would have given us the title, we had a not very difficult game away at 17th placed Hull. We didn’t play very well but my lads were lethal upfront, they scored four goals out of six shots on goal, quite efficient!

The title was ours again, it seemed very easy to get this time!

We didn’t have any time to celebrate though, the Champions League second leg was right around the corner, Arsenal were coming to Croft Park determined to give their best. The game started well for us, Heitinga fouled Necid in the penalty area and Damien Grange made it 1-0 from the spot. Arsenal were awarded a penalty kick before the break but Asenjo saved it! At that point I was sure that we were through to the semi finals. Tomas Necid made it 2-0 from a good cross by left winger Tom Chapple and despite Arsenal‘s furious comeback it was all over.

We had to face Barcelona in the semi final, it was going to be difficult although we did knock them out last season, in the quarter finals…

Until then we had yet another game against Arsenal, this time it was in the FA Cup semi final. I was fed up with Arsenal, we played against them countless times this season! This time they had a bit of luck in the first half, centre back Tiberiu Radulescu scored an own goal by deflecting a corner kick! We played very well in the second half though and completely outplayed Arsenal. We’re going to meet Everton in the final, not bad at all

We had two more league games before the clash with Barcelona, two games that didn’t matter anymore. We didn’t play too well in those two games but somehow managed to win both of them…

And the moment we were waiting for finally came, Barcelona at Croft Park again. I knew from last season that we had to take care of their great central midfielders, Camacho and Iniesta, tackle them hard and make their lives a living hell. They also had Messi and Obertan on the wings, they are always threatening…

4th minute – a great all Spanish goal: left back Velasco sent in a curling cross and striker Pablo headed it in!

25th minute – Kalouda worked a ball on the right wing, passed it inside for Aquino and the Spanish striker scored!

30th minute – free kick from 30 yards out, Damien Grange whipped it right under the crossbar! 3-0!

40th minute – Carlos Vela clawed one back for Barcelona.

61st minute – Tom Chapple found some space on the left wing, sent in a perfect cross, Pablo jumped higher than Pique and scored!

64th minute – Obertan scored with a great shot.

69th minute – Barcelona were awarded a dubious penalty kick. Messi stepped up but Asenjo saved it!

87th minute – corner kick for Blyth, Nicao whipped in the cross to the far post, left winger Tom Chapple was unmarked… Goal!

That’s what I call entertainment, a great 5-2 win that gave us a great chance to reach the Champions League final again! In the other semi final Juventus beat Lyon 3-0, so it seemed that we were heading for an English-Italian battle in the final…

The last game of the month, at home with Newcastle in the Premier League, was a special game… It was my 500th match with the Blyth Spartans, a good reason to celebrate. Daniel Aquino was determined to give me a nice present for the special day, he scored a quick double and closed the game right away.

The last month of my last Fm 2009 season will be quite intense, we’ll start at Camp Nou against Barcelona and we’ll finish with the FA Cup final, or maybe with the Champions League final, that would be nicer

Will we win the remaining two cups? Stay tuned to find out!

© www.footballmanagerstory.com

Right back Damien Grange won the European defender of the year award, he surely deserved it. Unfortunately my midfielders and strikers were not considered for any awards, quite strange if you ask me.

Anyway, let’s get back to the Premier League, we had a difficult game coming up, at home with 11th placed Chelsea. They got a draw against us in October, I wanted revenge for that And my players didn’t disappoint me, right winger Giorgos Liapis knocked Chelsea with his cool finishing while Damien Grange scored yet again from a free kick. Nicao completed the show by pushing in a great cross from Damien Grange. Chelsea played a lot better in the second half, they created quite a few chances but we couldn’t lose the game at that point. The bad news was that Nicao suffered broken ribs during the game, so he was going to be out for at least 5 weeks.

Next up, the first leg of the Carling Cup semi final, at home with Arsenal. We dominated the first half and we had a two goals lead at the break, Aquino scored first with a solo effort and then Damien Grange banged in a thunderous shot. Both teams were unleashed in the second half, it was quite spectacular to be honest. Arsenal scored twice, we did the same thing, so we will go into the second leg with a narrow two goals advantage.

Until then, back to the Premier League, we had a difficult game coming up at Anfield Road. Everybody expected an entertaining match but it was quite boring after all, Liverpool defended well while my players failed to create anything special.

Next up, we had a tough home game with Tottenham in the 3rd round of the FA Cup. We got off to a nightmare start, Acquafresca gave Tottenham the lead in the 2nd minute of the game. We played very well after that and striker Daniel Aquino put on a great show, he scored a double and created panic in Tottenham‘s defense time and again.

Back to the Premier League, we had 12th placed Everton coming at Croft Park. We dominated the game quite clearly but lacked precision upfront, we missed from every possible position and angle. Fortunately Damien Grange saved us again with one of his trademark free kick shots…

Next up, the second leg of the Carling Cup semi final, away at Arsenal. we won the first leg 4-2, so we had to fight to get through to the final. Arsenal looked incredibly strong, we had all sorts of problems throughout the game. It was a very entertaining match, with lots of chances to score for both sides. Luckily we converted two of our chances and got the draw. Arsenal deserved to beat us that day though…

After getting through to the Carling Cup final we had the FA Cup 4th round game to face, away at Newcastle. We had a disastrous first half and Newcastle were deservedly leading 1-0 at the break. My players woke up in the second half though, they completely overran Newcastle, it was a great display of football that gave us a good win.

Next up, the Premier League game with Middlesbrough. Boro were in 10th place but they looked like a League One side, we completely outplayed them and could have scored even more. Damien Grange had his cannon ready on that day too, he scored again from 30 yards out!

The last game in January was supposed to be the most difficult too, away at 2nd placed Tottenham. They were only 10 points behind us, the only team that kept up a decent pace in the Premier League compared to our rhythm. I admired their team, they had a good midfield with Modric and Gago and a great attacking line with Acquafresca and Hulk. It was a difficult game but our lethal finishing gave us a great win, with Daniel Aquino in great shape once again.

With that win it was pretty clear that we had a great chance to win the title again, we were 13 points ahead of Tottenham with two games in hand!

The first game in February was away at last placed Fulham in the Premier League and it was easier than I expected. I will tell you only one thing: Fulham made their first and last shot on goal in the 75th minute!

The next game was supposed to be much more difficult though, Arsenal were coming at Croft Park. We had a lot of trouble with them in the Carling Cup but now my players didn’t give Arsenal any chance, they played brilliantly! We were on a 42 games unbeaten run and more important, we were playing great!

The next victims were Wolves in the 5th round of the FA Cup. My players had a lot of fun on the pitch, it’s a great pleasure to watch them play! At this point I think that even if I resign they would continue to win most of the games

Next up, 4th placed Manchester City in the Premier League. We played well again but missed too many chances, my players seemed to get overconfident. Fortunately centre back Tiberiu Radulescu headed home a corner kick to give us the win.

The next game was away at 20th placed Wigan. Those games are always difficult, Wigan defended very well but ultimately right winger Lubos Kalouda scored a well deserved goal.

That was the last league game of the month and I can sat that the title is already in our hands, I can’t see how we could lose the 19 points advantage to Tottenham.

But February wasn’t over yet, we had the Champions League first knockout round game coming up, away at Deportivo. Those Spanish sides are always tricky but we got lucky this time, their striker kicked one of my players and was sent off in the 3rd minute of the game! It was all easy after that incident, we won the game quite clearly and Nicao scored again after the injury that kept him away for more than a month.

Last but not least, we had the Carling Cup final to play, more silverware is always welcome. We had to face Manchester City at Wembley Stadium, a tough opponent. Striker Tomas Necid gave us an early lead, he scored with a beautiful diving header. The Citizens tried to push forward but we stood firm, with goalkeeper Sergio Asenjo in top form. We couldn’t create much upfront but the one goal was enough to win the Carling Cup for the second time in a row!

We’ll get to play against Manchester City again in March, this time it will be in the FA Cup…

Three more months to go from my last FM 2009 season and still a few things to win: the FA Cup, the Champions League and the Premier League title! I hope to win all three of them, it will be a nice way to say goodbye to the wonderful Blyth Spartans.

I already began to work for the new FM 2010 career, I made a new banner for the blog. How do you like it?

I still didn’t pick the team that I will manage in FM 10 but I can say that I’m quite tempted to take an Italian team, a lower league one from Serie C2 maybe… What do you say?

© www.footballmanagerstory.com

But until then we had another few league games to win… The first challenge was a tricky away game at 3rd placed Crystal Palace, a solid team. We played very well in the first half and young striker Pablo gave us the lead with a close range header. Crystal Palace created a bit of pressure in the second half but there was nothing we couldn’t cope with, so there was another win in the bag!

We had a nice holiday game after that, the last Champions League group game, at home with Steaua Bucharest. We were already qualified, so I allowed my players to have some fun out there. The result was a spectacular game despite the frozen pitch, we could have scored at least five or six more goals.

We clearly dominated the Champions League group, six wins out of six and great performances overall. I really hope that we could win the trophy again…

Next up, another Premier League challenge, at home with 15th placed Hull. Striker Daniel Aquino put on a great show, his goal in the second half was the 100th league goal of his career! Hull dominated the last 40 minutes of the game but our defense can play like that all day long

Finally, the big moment arrived. We traveled to Australia to play in the Club World Cup! The semi final game brought us an easy opponent, Melbourne Victory. The game was a lot of fun for my players, they even scored one into our own net to make things more interesting

After the game we received the news about the Champions League first knockout round draw, we’ll play against Deportivo La Coruna. It won’t be easy but I’m confident that we can defeat them.

But there’s still a lot of time until then. We had to focus on the Club World Cup final as we had tough opposition, Argentinian side River Plate. Their star player is Diego Buonanotte, a very skillful midfielder. They won in the semi final 2-0 with South Africans from Orlando Pirates, a much more difficult opponent than Melbourne Victory. Anyway, we were determined to win it and young striker Pablo gave us the early lead with a great volley from inside the penalty area. We dominated the first half but River Plate created some pressure right after the break. We stood firm and eventually struck on counter attacks, left winger Tom Chapple and striker Nicao scored the goals that brought the trophy into our hands!

We won everything we could possibly win but you know how it is, I have one last season to play and I want to win some more We had to stay calm and take care of the league games, we had some difficult ones ahead of us. The first one was away at 13th placed Newcastle, they always were a tough nut to crack. They were lucky to score an early goal and the game was pretty even overall. My centre backs made the difference again though with two corner kick goals.

The last game of the year was at home with Manchester United, the most disappointing team in the Premier League this season. If you can imagine that, they were in 16th place despite having all the stars in their squad: Ronaldo, Rooney, Tevez and so on.

We had to take advantage of their poor form and we had no problems in doing that, Man Utd played like an anonymous team! If they continue to play like that they might even get relegated, that would be something!

We were in control in the Premier League but Tottenham were still breathing down our neck…

As you can see from the player stats I rotated the lads quite a lot, with only a few exceptions. I’m satisfied with their performance overall and I think that there is still room for improvement from some players.

I would like to single out two players. The first one is our star, Nicao. He was in great form again, scored 12 goals and made 9 assists, he is a world class striker!

Right back Damien Grange was also an essential player in the team. His right foot is simply golden, he takes corner kicks and free kicks almost perfectly and that’s why he scored 5 goals and made 14 assists!

We’ll be quite busy in January, 9 games to play, and quite a few tough ones: Arsenal in the Carling Cup semi final, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City and Tottenham in the Premier League, there will be a lot of entertainment

That’s about it, I’m very happy that we managed to win the Club World Cup, the only trophy that was missing from my track record. Now I’ll have another few months of my last Football Manager 2009 season to enjoy, I hope you’ll enjoy them with me.

© www.footballmanagerstory.com

A win at home against Galatasaray was everything that we needed in order to get through to the next round in the UEFA Champions League. Galatasaray defended well throughout the game but we managed to get two goals past them and win it, we clearly deserved to win by a bigger margin though.

Our next game was an away one, at Reading. Everybody expected us to win easily but it wasn’t like that, we simply couldn’t get past their overcrowded defense. Young Italian centre back Riccardo Fanelli saved us with a header from a corner kick but we should have played a lot better.

Next up, the Carling Cup game against Championship side Leicester. I sent in a lot of reserve and under 18 players and the result was an entertaining game with a lot of errors from my youngsters. Anyway, we won it thanks to the experienced strikers that played in the first half.

The next game was a difficult one, West Ham were coming at Croft Park. They were the surprise team in the Premier League, they had a great start and were in 3rd place! They took the lead in the 18th minute from a penalty kick but my team reacted well, we dominated the game and West Ham couldn’t create more than a few shots from distance.

Next up, the tough local derby away at 8th placed Sunderland. We had an absolutely terrible first half and Sunderland punished us right after the break. We played a lot better after that but the finishing was largely disappointing, we only had two shots on target out of 21! However, we managed to score from a penalty kick and preserved our unbeaten record. I was very disappointed with the performance though

The players had a chance to redeem themselves at Roma, I wanted them to win the game although we were already qualified. It was a spectacular game with Roma causing us all sorts of problems with their lightning fast counter attacks. They missed their chances though… We missed a lot too but Nicao scored just enough to give us the win

Next up, an easier league game, at home with 18th placed Portsmouth. They were difficult to crack tough but we finally made it in the second half. Portsmouth reacted well and they nearly got back into the game but Bikey missed the penalty kick that might have given them a chance.

We were still undefeated but Tottenham were hanging in there, only 8 points behind us…

The last game of the month was the Carling Cup quarter final with West Ham. We already taught them a lesson in the league game and this time it was even better, we had a great first half. West Ham tried to react in the second half but they just couldn’t threaten our lead.

December will be the most important month of our season, we will have the Club World Cup games, not scheduled yet. We should have the semi final on the 14th of December and, hopefully, the final on the 18th. It’s the only trophy that I didn’t win with the Spartans, so I’ll do my best to bring it home.

That’s about it, stay tuned for a new update coming up tomorrow! Until then, please share your thoughts about the team (English or not) that I should manage in FM 2010! Thanks!

© www.footballmanagerstory.com